Mating Rituals
by Moto-kun
Summary: Fawn knew courtship behaviour when she saw it. She also knew when it was directed towards her. And – quite importantly – she knew from whom she accepted it. / Nyx x Fawn
1. Prologue

**_~ Prologue ~_**

Fawn knew courtship behaviour when she saw it – thanks to her talent. The way a wooer would suddenly act all different, sometimes looking like a clown to those seeing it objectively, and this all just to impress the (potential) object of desire with their abilities and traits.

Fawn also knew when it was directed towards her – even if this part was a little bit more difficult for the animal fairy. And she basically knew how to properly respond to it either way – whether it was accepting or declining the advances – thanks to being with animals, again.

The personal part was that Fawn quickly knew from whom she accepted it and when she would give in to it. As she was finding out, her subconscious requirements for a partner, for a _mate_ – as she was more used to saying –, were fulfilled by a certain long-haired scout fairy ...

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**A/N: ******Hello everyone, here I am with a new story (oh my gosh, it's a multi-chapter thing …)! I couldn't help but ship Fawn and Nyx when I saw the "Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast" movie for the first time. But I didn't have an idea for a story, so I didn't write anything myself (and there's like nothing out there!). After watching this movie again in November, I suddenly _got_ an idea :3****

**And as I realized only at the end of writing chapter one, I do seem to have a thing for the courting topic. Well, what can I say, it happened. In my opinion, it fits these two in the kind of animal-comparing way I will be doing it.**

**As I hinted in the first sentence, I have difficulty writing multi-chapter stories. (I'm a one-shot writer type, I don't know. They are overseeable.) Therefore, I only started writing this story when I actually had a complete outline planned. The main story points stand and it's up to my spontaneous writing how they will turn out and into detail.**

**I'm sorry for rambling so much here, but I can't help it, I always feel like mentioning so much when I'm at the beginning of a story ^^' :D (And you'll directly get chapter one, so bear with me and the word count for the A/N in this prologue.)**


	2. Calming the Waves, Catching the Eye

**A/N: In this story, I'm portraying Nyx as completely confident while Fawn is a slightly broken mess in the very beginning after saying goodbye to Gruff. I would like to also write both differently as it seems out of line of Fawn's usual character (but I deemed it fit for this story) and we didn't get to know how Nyx would usually be off-duty and interacting with people (and when Fawn isn't currently taking the seemingly biggest danger ever into Pixie Hollow). But I would save that for a different story.**

**One thing in advance: Somewhere rather at the beginning****, I began writing something about Fawn writing a book about Gruff. That was already shown in the movie (when everyone is letting Gruff help them at the end). We'll pretend that she didn't do that there already. I changed that bitty bit because it looked like the perfect solution to the drama I portrayed.**

**Now, have fun and enjoy this!**

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_**~ Calming the Waves, Catching the Eye ~**_

It all started with an unexpected scene between them, a scene that didn't start out nice for either of them, but that found a good ending, a scene during which they got to see more of the respective other fairy.

Some time had passed since Gruff had gone back into his hibernation. In the meantime, Fawn and Nyx had gotten closer to each other.

During the first weeks after saying goodbye to the Neverbeast, the animal fairy had been so heart-broken, spending much time alone. She had tried to distract herself with her usual work at day, training the local animals, while in the evening, she had been all by herself in her house, being sad, or out on a hill, watching the stars like she had done with her Big Furry Monster. She had refused to share those moments with anyone, wanting to think about her animal friend.

On one of those evenings though, someone had dared to change this. The memory of it always brought a smile onto Fawn's lips and warmed her heart.

* * *

_She was sitting on the stone of a cliff that allowed her to see nothing but stars in a wide range. Her lips slightly pressed together, heart dully aching from the loss of a good friend, she was thinking about the time she had watched the stars with Gruff, and how eternal the stellar objects were, just like him, and unlike her …_

_Taking a shaky breath, she was about to tear up again and therefore didn't notice the fluttering behind her, nor the approaching footsteps. Only the clear sound of something pointed, solid and not too dense hitting the stone reached her, causing her to gasp in surprise and sit up straight. Due to her emotional state, though, she didn't turn around and didn't want to._

"_A clear night sky tells of up-coming cold", a voice behind her stated._

_Fawn closed her eyes with a long sigh. She had heard that voice so often in the past weeks. It was Nyx. Why did it have to be Nyx?_

_"I'm not cold, thank you", she got out without giving away her current emotions, or at least that was what she hoped – well, she heard the distant tone in her own voice. The mild cold was actually something that she enjoyed at the moment. She could hear the faintest rustling of fabric on fabric behind her – thanks to her now attentive, good animal fairy's ears – and a quiet clank on the stone._

"_Fawn, please listen to me."_

_Sighing again, but still not turning around, the addressed said, "I am listening to you." She didn't want to be surrounded by anyone and especially not by the scout fairy._

_Left between them was an awkward tension. It was still remaining from that night when they had accompanied Gruff to his cave. After the "big furry monster" had finally closed his eyes that night, Fawn hadn't been able to keep herself together and had collapsed onto his broad nose, crying badly. Her friends had stayed with her, worrying and trying so much to cheer her up._

_It had deprived Nyx of the possibility to properly apologize to the animal fairy. The latter hadn't been in near a state to really absorb it, so the scout had left with an uneasy mind. And since Fawn had withdrawn afterwards, the black-haired fairy hadn't gotten to deliver her words, being either never close enough to the other fairy or seeing her in a moment when she would busily excuse herself._

_Fawn was still slightly upset with her when seeing her or speaking about her, although she had seen and appreciated Nyx's realization of her own mistake and thus saying goodbye to Gruff._

"_Can I also get you to look at me?"_

_Thinking it would be over quicker if she simply did so, the brunette said in an irritated tone, "Fine." She turned her upper body and head around, expecting to see a proud Nyx._

_But, there she was down on one knee, right fist on the left side of her chest, the fingers of her other hand touching the ground. Next to it was her spear, discarded on the ground. In the moonlight, Fawn saw a soft and uncomfortable expression on her face. She was confused to witness such a look on the usually steely scout, especially directed towards herself since the taller fairy always worked against her._

"_Fawn, I didn't get to do this yet and I know it's a little overdue. But I deeply wish to apologize to you." At the beginning of her apology, Nyx had her eyes cast down and her head inclined, but at the end, she was facing the animal fairy and meeting her eyes. Her wings stood tall._

_The sight of this took the shorter fairy by surprise, but she still managed to ask accusingly, "What for, exactly? The whole thing with Gruff? The Hannah debacle beforehand? The constant getting in my way when I'm doing my job?"_

_Oh gosh, she really was down and at the end of her rope. Usually, she wouldn't talk and act like this towards anyone. But at the moment, she wasn't her usual cheery self, either. And this fairy was just so much for her._

_Nyx's face hardened slightly before she replied, "I apologize for not considering your opinion and not respecting your point of view while dealing with Gruff was certainly a matter for both of us. I directly put your consideration aside after all your past actions of bringing dangerous animals into Pixie Hollow and was solely focused on my take of the legend of the Neverbeast. But it was a whole new dimension and I should have been able to see that even you would realize it when a huge animal like him would have seriously planned to bring danger to Pixie Hollow. Especially when you spent so much time with him. Your friends told me about this when I asked for you … Anyway, because of my misinterpretation, I was the one endangering our home and all lives in it. And … you acted to prevent it. You gave yourself to do … my job …" Her head lowered at this. Her next words came out in a low voice, "I'm so sorry for that, Fawn."_

_Fawn was a little speechless upon hearing this. It wasn't what she had expected from the scout._

_But before the mood of the animal fairy could be too uplifted, the scout added with a stern look in her eyes, "The last accuse, though, I'm rejecting. You are getting in my way just the same. The other animal fairies have understanding for your doings because it's coming from your talent, but they don't do it." During those words, she had lowered the hand from her chest down onto her high knee._

_Seeing the unresponsive behaviour coming from Fawn, she slowly got to her feet, leaving her spear on the ground. "Fawn, I'm not here to accuse you of anything. On the contrary. We … we have to find a way to get along with each other. I cannot let you-" _Die again_, she had wanted to say, but stopped herself in time. After taking a deep breath, she continued, "I cannot let you or anyone else get in serious danger. So we have to work something out to handle your … protective instincts for rather dangerous animals."_

_The animal fairy nodded absentmindedly, mumbling an "If you say so", and then she turned back around to the cliff, pulling her legs to her torso and laying her chin on her knees, having lost interest in this conversation. She was only distantly starting to think about Nyx's suggestion, feeling another weight of something difficult to handle._

_Nyx was completely perplexed by this reaction and didn't know how to bring across her point now. What she saw wasn't like the usually upbeat and feisty fairy that she knew, and as weird as it was to admit, she couldn't leave her like this, although she had said what she had come for to say._

_As a scout, it wasn't her job to mentally care for other fairies, but Fawn's small frame in front of her, so alone out here in the dark and behaving so strangely, was nagging at her. So she carefully took step after step to get closer to the brunette, trying to think of something to say. "I guess we can still do that another time. What are you doing here, actually?" She was now standing directly diagonally behind Fawn._

_The approach caused Fawn to wrap her arms closer around her legs, feeling a stronger need for comfort now that the other one still hadn't left. Thinking about the answer to that question – thinking about Gruff – caused her sad feelings to bubble up freshly. She pressed her jaws together to avoid any visible outbreak. Not wanting to talk about it, she looked for something else to reply. "What about you? Don't you have anything else to do? I'm sure you didn't just come here to talk to me because it didn't let you sleep."_

_The rasp in her voice coming from emotions didn't go unnoticed by Nyx. As well as the whole dismissive behaviour. "That's true. I'm on duty this night. But then I spotted you during my patrol and couldn't help it but take the chance to finally talk to you and apologize. And now I guess I can't leave you alone like this." She was facing the open space in front of her._

"_Why not? I can watch out for myself and you have to keep patrolling." Fawn looked to the side, studying the style of the scout's uniform at the legs from up this close for a moment before letting her eyes travel up the body next to her. Nyx seemed rather relaxed then._

"_The night seems peaceful and my team is out, too. They know how to reach me if they need me. And right now, it seems like _you_ need someone." Her head was turning around, catching the animal fairy's gaze at her. Sadness was etched onto those features._

_Fawn wanted to reply something, that even if she needed someone, it wouldn't be Nyx. But the latter beat her to it._

"_You look so sad. You've been thinking about him, haven't you?"_

_These words hit Fawn unprepared and made her hastily turn her head away from the scout with a chortling sound. She pressed her cheek against the side of her knee, swallowing her tears down. Nodding her head was all she could give for an answer, noticing that Nyx was lowering herself next to her to sit down cross-legged._

_Back straight and hands on her thighs, the scout was taking in the scenery. She had seen Fawn's nod out of the corner of her eyes while sitting down._

_Gruff's kind-of leave was the reason the animal fairy hadn't been herself since four weeks. And while Nyx could understand her sadness, she knew that the brunette had to find back to herself. Outright telling her so wouldn't help, unfortunately, that much was clear to the taller fairy. So she had to find a way to lift Fawn's spirits. Fawn, who was obviously still apprehensive of her._

_Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she was ready to try this. "He's a tough guy. Who would have thought that Pixie Hollow had its own personal protector? It's a shame the records held nothing about him. Only a ripped page with pictures that could be interpreted one way or another." Fawn was still keeping quiet by her side, requiring her to proceed. "I hope you did him justice by writing down more about him." Now she was finally looking at the animal fairy._

"_Of course I did! I wrote down his properties and some of his characteristics! Well, not all of them, yet, and not very neatly … But, yeah, I did ..." Fawn had lifted her head and was speaking indignantly, letting her legs loose a bit._

_After a second of thinking, Nyx spoke, "So … Why don't you organize your notes and write a book about him?"_

_Fawn's eyes widened while she thought about it, her face slowly brightening. "Do you really think that?"_

"_Of course. It would make things a lot easier for the respective generation of fairies in the future. And a special being like him would deserve it."_

"_He really is special." The shorter fairy was staring onto the ground, smiling lightly. What Nyx had said wasn't wrong. And she had spent the whole time with him while he had been awake, studying all of his behaviour and motives, so she actually provided the material._

_Seeing that she had hit a good spot, Nyx went on. "Soo … What would you write about him in a book?" Her body was further turned towards the other fairy, the hand closer to Fawn on the ground, supporting her upper body._

"_Oh, I ..." Fawn raised her head to look into the sky, a small but happy smile playing on her features, thinking about all of his special details. As she stretched out her legs, her right arm went into the air. After a moment of contemplation, her other arm joined it. She was beginning to draw an outline of a shape into the air, saying, "I would start with describing and drawing Gruff's features. That he has a really broad face with a cute-looking beard." Her hands were drawing said face into the air. "That his fur is the softest for such a length of hair. And that it really _is_ long. So is his tail!" Her hands were depicting a longer and even longer distance._

_Nyx was watching the animal fairy's change of mood with satisfaction. When she even heard her laugh as she couldn't stretch out her arms any longer, she felt the smile tugging at the corners of her own lips._

"_I would … I would continue with his character. That on first sight, he might seem very grumpy and disinterested, causing the observer to maybe call him 'Gruff', but that it really is just his facial features. And, after all, he's busy, having a job to do. It's not his fault. But when he warms up to you, he really is a cutie. His emerald eyes will sparkle with consideration, and his wide mouth will show you a kind smile, reassuring you of anything!" Fawn turned around at this, her own face beaming with an enthusiastic smile. Though it was dimmed a bit when she realized it was Nyx sitting next to her. But something was off. She interrupted her explanation, saying, "You … You can smile. _Honestly_ smile."_

_At that, she was even more impressed since the black-haired fairy next to her gave forth a laughter clear as bells. Fawn was staring at her, eyes wide open and mouth agape in positive shock. It was beautiful to see, it was … like a different fairy._

"_Of course I can", was the simple reply. Nyx enjoyed the baffled expression on the other fairy's face._

"_Why have I never seen you smile – and heard you laugh – before?" Fawn's upper body was fully turned towards her conversational partner now._

"_Hmm, maybe that was because you always saw me during work and that only when you had already caused trouble among fairies and sparrow men with an animal that wasn't supposed to be there?" she suggested, but instantly regretted it slightly when she saw the hurt crossing Fawn's face. It was the truth, though. She had asked._

_The shorter fairy turned back facing the cliff, legs angled. "Gruff wasn't trouble", she mumbled petulantly. "And he _was_ supposed to be there."_

_Nyx noticed that Fawn was crawling back into her shell. She had to stop it. "Yes, that's true, but he was trouble for us as no one knew anything about him. Plus, you can't deny the incident that happened on the sunflower field."_

"_That's what we really need this book for!" Fawn didn't realize how she had already accepted this idea. "But that incident was an accident! I was just playing with Gruff, and we had so much fun! Until it went overboard … You know, he loves games, just like me, and it was-", her voice suddenly faltered. "It was so great." She sucked in a shaky breath, looking up to the stars. Her arms were hugging herself._

_For a few minutes, there was silence between them. None of them left, though._

_At some point, Nyx noticed that Fawn had her legs pressed together and that her feet stood closer to her bottom. Her hands were slowly moving up and down her arms. At first, the scout thought it to be an action of comforting herself. But then she realized that it had to be the cold. It was definitely night by now, with a black, starry sky above them. While Fawn was only wearing rather short clothes, sitting on a stony ground. Nyx herself was wearing long clothes in several layers, it didn't affect her._

_The scout was unsure about what to do. She didn't have anything like a blanket with her to hand it over to the cold fairy. But she didn't want the conversation between them to end like this if the other one was to leave because of being cold._

_She took a look at Fawn's profile, seeing her still lost in her thoughts, and decided upon her only option, actually feeling uneasy._

_Nyx carefully slid closer to Fawn so that she was sitting directly beside her. In order to kind of warn the other fairy, she cleared her throat before hesitantly lifting her hands. Fawn was only slowly turning her head to look at her side and see what was going on when she felt Nyx's hands lying on her arms in addition to her own ones. The feeling of the tree bark, which worked as the scout's bracers, on her bare skin was what made her jerk around fully. With a very surprised expression on her face, Fawn was looking at the taller fairy._

_Nyx quickly looked down, a faint tinge of red on her cheeks while she retracted her hands. "I'm sorry, I just thought that because you seemed cold, I ..."_

"_Um, it's … it's all right." What was going on with the other fairy? Had Nyx's mind been replaced while she was sulking? That could be the only explanation for this completely different behaviour towards her._

_But it was so interesting to see. After all … the scout had just blushed! Oh, if she told Iridessa and the others of this …! So she had to play a bit along now. "But you're right. I'm actually cold." She pulled her legs back to her body. "You … You can warm me." Realizing what that sounded like, she hastily added, "Not that I'm telling you to! Or commanding you to! Oh it sounds just like that, doesn't it?" She twisted her mouth in awkwardness, mentally face-palming._

_That elicited a small smile from the scout. She scurried over so that her hip was almost touching Fawn's, taking the bare arms into her hands, leading her outer arm over the animal fairy's back. She once pressed into the strong yet small muscles before she began to slowly rub her hands over the skin. At first, both of them were pretty stiff. Nyx needed to find a distraction. Thus, she asked, "So, what else was Gruff like?"_

_At that, Fawn's eyes turned a little sad again, but then they sparkled with a sad smile. "At first, he is very rough and ignorant. But he can turn into a very caring and careful friend." With satisfaction, she noticed that Nyx was actually giving off heat, both by the rubbing and her sheer close physical presence. The scout smelled of fir, as Fawn observed while consciously taking a breath._

_She told her about his character and his oddities. That he was as busy as a bee, absolutely focused on his work just like the fairies and sparrow men of Pixie Hollow. That he would never sleep and crush the bed she made for herself every evening at the beginning. How he was so clever to use the snot grass as such a strong glue for his towers. And that it would be so much easier and quicker to build them if he received help for carrying the big rocks by strewing pixie dust on them. That it was a wonder static-wise how his towers kept standing while they were so lopsided. And that they were even able to hold his weight! As well as it astounded her that his tail was able to do so when he dangled from his towers after having finished building them. After all it was so slim and he was a big guy. She told her that his skin seemed very sensitive, since once she accidentally crashed into him while flying, he instantly let the rock he had been holding in his mouth fall to the ground to look at his side. Despite the fairy practically weighing nothing at all for him. And she told her of the story of how it had begun between them, with Gruff being all miserable and wailing about the thorn in his foot. She went on and on and on._

_In the meantime, she had progressively cuddled up to Nyx's side. Her legs were so cold, too, due to the short dress she was wearing, and Nyx was radiating off such a nice warmth, making the brunette press her legs against those of the scout. She had closed the little distance left between their bodies and had their hips connecting and their sides against each other._

_Nyx's touch was far more comfortable than she would have anticipated. She felt something like safe in it – as safe as you could feel in the touch of a quasi stranger that you had felt a previous dislike for. Even if this was a scout. So maybe "good" was the better word. It was especially astounding her that the black-haired fairy had gotten her to talk in the first place, and this about her beloved Gruff who was the whole storm inside her._

_This thought about her unexpected comfort led her to her next action of slowly and carefully placing her inclined head onto the strong shoulder of the taller scout. She felt the sudden tension in the other body from her action, but ignored it. She was beginning to feel exhausted and felt almost empty. So she wanted to be supported._

_"He was such a great guy", she said with a heavy sigh._

_Nyx would have corrected her that Gruff actually still _was_, as he wasn't dead, but she was too busy processing the current situation. She hadn't intended for Fawn to end up so _close_ to her, and why was her heart beating so wildly and her breathing going faster? _Cuddling with the troublemaker_, she could clearly imagine the comment and the looks on the faces of Chase, Fury, Shade and Di if they knew of this._

_But at the moment, Fawn was anything but a troublemaker to her. She was a stray baby bird that needed help. That needed someone's attention. And at this moment, Nyx was willing to provide. She had forced it onto the other fairy, after all …_

"_We would play together, eat when he deemed it break-time, work together … When he was done with one tower and I was sleeping, he would wait until I was awake to present it proudly to me ..." Fawn was continuing to speak about Gruff's and her time together. How he would sit her down somewhere where she wouldn't be in his way, even on his own head – and that this was the beginning of their physical contact –, how he listened to her babbling the whole time on the way to another season despite clearly being annoyed by it. That he loved the pixie dust, both purely watching it and its effect of letting things fly._

_While talking, Fawn would gesture with her hands the whole time, being full of emotion. Her voice, too, was filling with emotion. The rasps in it were becoming more and more, and in between she gave off sniffles._

"_And ...", she weakly turned her head so she could see the stars above the two of them. By now, the moon had set, completely handing over the stage to the many small lights filling the sky, "... we would peacefully watch the stars together ..." With this, Fawn pressed her head into the crook of Nyx's neck and began sobbing. The animal fairy closed her eyes and let the tears that had wanted to spill a few hours ago finally fall. In this moment, she felt no shame showing the scout this emotional outbreak of hers. She just let it all go._

_Nyx was actually feeling very overwhelmed by this. The trembling brunette leaned on her shoulder, letting out her heart. She saw her closed fists in her lap and touched them briefly before turning slightly further towards the other fairy and fully taking her into her arms. She was surprised by her own reaction, since she had never had to deal with a crying fairy before. Or at least not alone. She usually let Shade or Chase handle the comforting after an operation._

_The caring behaviour of the scout caused Fawn to grasp at Nyx's midriff._

_After some time, the taller fairy felt her striped shirt near the neckline of the bodysuit getting wet after the tears had soaked through the fabric. Feeling awkward just holding the animal fairy while being quiet, Nyx began stroking the small frame of hers in her arms and rocking them slowly. The longer the display of sadness went on the stronger the tugging at her heart became._

_When the flow of tears was finally, slowly decreasing, Fawn got out between sobs, "I miss him so much ...", while holding on to Nyx._

"_I feel you, Fawn, I feel you. That's only natural after the intense time you two spent together", the taller one said in a soothing voice. "But … You know, he can consider himself lucky, too." The sniffling instead of the sobbing was enough of a reaction to tell her to go on. "Anyone having someone to say such things about them and their time together can consider themselves truly lucky." A smile was adorning her lips while saying this. She felt warm from having gotten to learn of such a beautiful heart in the past few hours._

_Fawn slowly rose her head upon hearing this and saw the expression on Nyx's face. Automatically, she lifted the corners of her lips up, too, but the smile was all messed up with tears and her features otherwise contorted in extreme sadness._

_It caused a pang in the chest of Nyx to see this usually chirpy and bright fairy like this. Fawn had probably been like this too many times after Gruff had gone back into hibernation. She needed to say something. "Now, now … What would Gruff think if he saw you like this? He wouldn't recognize you."_

_The animal fairy stared blankly at her at this. The black-haired fairy used this to lift one of her hands and gently brush across the freckled cheeks with her fingers to wipe away the streaks of tears._

_A single sob followed, before Fawn meekly asked, "Do you think that?"_

"_Yes. Have you seen yourself? He would wonder where his happy, cheery, bubbly and funny friend has gone. He would be sad, too, to see that you're gone. And you don't even hibernate as an excuse."_

_The brunette clenched her teeth, knowing that the other fairy had a point and was right. The things listed were what made her special. And her friends wouldn't – _couldn't_ – recognize her like this. But that didn't fully matter to her right now. She felt miserable because of losing a good friend, even if not to death. "Right now I wish I could hibernate … To escape these feelings ..."_

"_Well, well, 'escape'. That's not the tough fairy I've heard about and seen." Nyx raised an eyebrow at the shorter fairy in her arms._

_Then she softened and said sincerely, "Fawn, I'm sure that your friends miss you just as well. They are worried about you." – I _am worried about you,_ she thought. – "And I'm also pretty sure that many animals miss their very enthusiastic trainer and carer. Aren't they all worth your true, happy smile? You've grieved long enough for Gruff. There are new things waiting for you. Dedicate a well-done book to him and keep him special in your heart, and then go out there smiling and ready for new things!"_

_She was speaking energetically now and pointed the index finger of her free hand at the animal fairy, fixing her with a fierce look in her eyes. Being a scout fairy held the unpleasant circumstance of always ending up straight in the middle of dangerous situations, and if the worst came to the worst, it meant giving your life for others. Having had her share of seeing fallen fellow scouts, she herself had become rather steely in handling the matter as a whole of losing someone._

_The next words came out whispered, more like they were only to herself, "There are others depending on and needing you."_

_Fawn had only been able to blankly stare at Nyx, baffled by the words directed at her by this scout fairy that used to work against her. She deeply looked into those eyes fixing hers before swallowing, feeling a final big lump in her throat going away._

_After that, she slowly placed her head back down against Nyx's collarbone with a sigh. She was feeling both relieved and easier now after the terrible crying while also feeling so exhausted, all energy drained from her. At the same time, she felt a new little energy blooming inside her chest._

_Closing her eyes and being quiet for a moment, she enjoyed the physical comfort the taller fairy provided, feeling her second hand go back onto her arm. This time, Fawn could hear the other one's heartbeat. It had an agitated speed, probably just like her own one, but it was steady and strong nonetheless. While being strange and strangely intimate coming from Nyx, it was mostly very soothing and calming to her. Her lips turned upwards in a content smile._

_She could have fallen asleep in that moment, being particularly warm from her outburst then, but said, "Thank you, Nyx, I wouldn't have thought you to be able of such a thing, such a speech. And this whole …" Meaning the holding her, but not being able to say so, she only detached one hand from the scout's waist and gestured about briefly before putting it back where it came from, pressing Nyx's body strongly against hers once. "You know?"_

You wouldn't have thought me to be able of something like that? Me neither. But we all have to surpass ourselves constantly,_ the black-haired fairy thought to herself. "I do what I can for Pixie Hollow", she replied. It wasn't so untrue if her words would work on the other fairy. It would mean that she would have brought a citizen back to being herself instead of some saddened shell._

"_I know", Fawn answered with a smile in her voice. That was the reason why she had clashed with the other one so often, after all. That reminded her of something._

"_Nyx … If I ever was in danger, would you save me …?" She had always been apprehensive of the potential and very probable answer of a no to this question. After all, she was seen as trouble by the scouts._

_There was only a short moment of silence before the scout replied, "Of course I would!" She placed one hand on the animal fairy's head. "I'm a scout, after all", she added lamely. And really, how could she ever answer this with a no after holding this girl like she had done for the past hours?_

_Oh, what was going on with this fairy next to her? Fawn didn't recognize her. But that was in a good way. "So … you did this whole thing here 'as a scout'? M-hmm", she teased her after lifting her head to face her._

"_I'm always a scout, no matter what I do."_

"_How about just being a fairy?_

_Not knowing what to answer to that, Nyx stayed quiet._

_Fawn saw her hesitance and said softly, "To me, you have been nothing but simply a fairy during the past few hours." The frown on Nyx's face and her lifted eyebrow made her add, "In the best way possible!"_

_The black-haired fairy pushed out the air from her lungs. "Thanks, I guess."_

"_You're welcome", Fawn replied with a small smile before placing her head on the scout's shoulder, eyelids drooping. "I'm tired", she whispered._

"_It's night by now and you quite exhausted yourself there. Are you okay now?"_

_Not yet wanting to give her word, the animal fairy nodded. She actually felt much better._

"_Is there anything else I can do for you at the moment?"_

"_Don't say anything related to your scout duties", Fawn got out slowly with her chin on the bones of the other body. She feared Nyx might still say something that could hurt her again. She was too raw right now. "And … maybe escort me back to my home?" The presence of the other fairy had felt and still was feeling nice, and she couldn't bear breaking the magic of the moment between them already._

"_All right. If you wish so." Nyx slowly detached herself from the brunette and got to her feet. Everything hurt from the hours-long sitting on stone in almost the same position and with someone leaning on one shoulder. Rolling her shoulders and moving her legs, she enjoyed standing for now. Fawn was still sitting weakly on the ground, hands on the ground to brace her and eyes directed down there. "Come here", Nyx said, holding out a hand to help her up._

_Fawn took the hand and let her hoist her. She was a little surprised by how weak her legs were. That wasn't what the legs of an animal fairy were supposed to be like …_

Come on, muscles, where are you?_ Actually, she felt like a picture of misery in total._

_In the meantime, Nyx had gone over to where she had left her spear on the ground and had taken it up and placed it in its holder on her back. "Ready?"_

"_Yes", Fawn said, hoping that her wings would be stronger than her legs. They were._

_The two fairies flew through the starlit night back to where the brunette's house stood. Nyx knew the place after having been there for several business-related visits already. When they landed in front of the door – or rather the hanging vines acting as the door –, Fawn approached it and turned around. Nyx stood there straight as ever and was simply watching her. So she had to do the talking ..._

"_Um, thank you for everything tonight, Nyx. I know it turned out all awkward, but at least for me it was … rather nice, in the end." She was wringing her hands when she wasn't waving them about. "I haven't thought I'd get to see such a side of you. Thank you for listening and for your words. They really helped. Oh, and the … and the hugging, you know?" She averted her eyes at this._

_The black-haired fairy smiled upon seeing and hearing this and replied in her smooth voice, "You're welcome, Fawn."_

_Having some light coming from her house so that she could see more, the addressed noticed something else. "Oh, erm, and sorry for crying all over you." She pointed at the respective spot on the scout's uniform._

"_It's okay." The fairy had already gotten used to the feeling of the damp spot, and it was already drying. Besides, it was only tears. They would wash out easily. "I should take my leave, then", she said to finally conclude this evening._

"_Yeah, that's true. Not that I'd want to get rid of you, because I really don't, but-! Oh gosh, I really should go to sleep now ..." She put one hand to her face and dragged it down._

_Despite embarrassing herself, or rather for this very reason, she was rewarded with a low chuckle from Nyx. She found that she liked that sound._

"_Don't forget the book, Fawn. I think it will help you", the taller fairy said calmly._

"_I won't." Fawn shook her head and smiled. Then she asked nervously, "Can I … Can I properly hug you once to say goodbye and goodnight and thank you?"_

_The gentle answer was, "I'm afraid we were already past that barrier, but all right." Nyx sighed, stepping forwards and opening her arms. The animal fairy jumped right into them and hugged her tightly. Closing her arms around her frame, she was glad to see the smile back on the shorter fairy's face. That was the fairy she knew._

_She lowered her mouth to her ear and whispered, "And now don't ruin your pretty face with any more crying, okay?" With this, she squeezed her back once._

_Fawn felt good in the strong arms and against the well-built body of the scout. Once again, she was engulfed in the smell of fir. Her heart, or rather her whole chest, felt warm and fuzzy, both from the action and the words just spoken. Knowing the perfect reply to this, she turned her head so that she could speak clearly and said, "Then don't you ruin yours with the constant frowning I'm only used to seeing!"_

"_I'm not promising anything there." The black-haired fairy flapped her wings together once._

"_Too bad ..."_

_The two detached themselves and wished each other a good night and a good bye._

_After that, Fawn went into her house. As much as she wanted to recall everything that had happened this evening, she immediately fell asleep with a content feeling as soon as she hit the mattress. She dreamed of firs and strong arms holding her, and a black-haired scout that gave her a kind smile. Standing above them, in the woods, was the approving smile of Gruff. They waved at him, and he left with one happy bleating sound._

_Nyx, on the other hand, still had a patrol to continue. Without the moon to cast enough light to see, though, she needed a firefly to accompany her. Wanting to get one from the scouts' headquarters, she directly flew there. After landing, she was about to reach the field of the sleeping fireflies when a voice behind her stopped her._

"_Nyx! Where have you been? Our patrol routes were supposed to cross and overlap. I didn't see you."_

_The addressed turned around and saw Fury standing behind her. The latter was trying to hide her quizzical look, but Nyx could discover it easily. "I know, but I was held up." She was about to turn back around, but her second-in-command wasn't done yet, apparently._

"_You aren't finished yet? You're … going to take a firefly", the curlyhead noticed._

"_Yes, that's right. I'm going to finish my patrol, but you know how to reach me if anything occurs, after all."_

_Fury was stationed at the headquarters after her patrol. And her patrol was already over for some time, apparently._

"_You were held up pretty long. Is everything all right?" she spoke her thoughts. Then she noticed something else on her superior and furrowed her eyebrows even deeper. "What is that on your uniform?"_

_Nyx followed Fury's line of sight and saw the still dark spot on the white of her shirt as well as the first white stains from the dried salt in the tears on the bodysuit. _Oh great,_ she thought ironically. "Well, I encountered _someone_, and that's their tears."_

_She didn't want to talk about it, but also didn't want to rudely cut off Fury, since she was both her closest colleague and somewhat her friend. That line was a bit difficult to make out as a scout because they all worked very closely together most of the time and had to trust their respective team completely._

_One eyebrow of the curlyhead rose and she was looking at Nyx with an expression like she couldn't believe it. The defensive hiss in her superior's voice hadn't gone unnoticed by the second-in-command._

_After a second, she hesitantly asked, "You didn't break someone's heart, did you?" It wouldn't be the first time._

"_No!" Nyx immediately shouted. Seeing the shock of the other fairy, she hastily said, "Sorry, Fury. I'm still a little rattled myself by what happened. It was Fawn. I found her on the cliff. I hope I could help her." She decided to give her this little something, hoping it would be satisfying and enough to stop the inquiries._

_The state that the animal fairy was in after Gruff had gone back into his hibernation had gotten about through Pixie Hollow, thus reaching the scouts as well. It was sad for them to hear after Fawn herself had rescued them all by leading Gruff even up high into the sky towards the center of the thunderstorm that had threatened to destroy everything. But they couldn't do anything about such a matter, both regarding their field of work and the fact that none of them was close to the fairy._

_Fury was piecing things together when Nyx said, "I will continue now. I don't want to leave my route unfinished." After that, she left for the field with the fireflies, took one of them with her and flew off._

_The second-in-command gazed after her leaving form, having a picture in her mind. Mouth slightly agape and eyebrows knitted in disbelief, she said to herself, "Fawn, crying that much on your shoulder, at night, and you letting her do that …? For _hours_?" And then there was this smile of Nyx that she had shown while speaking of helping the animal fairy. This whole picture seemed wrong from what she thought and knew._

_Two weeks later, Fury was overly surprised to see a smiling and seemingly happy Fawn entering the scouts' headquarters asking for Nyx. Their team had just finished a meeting and the five of them were about to leave the room when the animal fairy flitted inside and directly went for Nyx. Their leader seemed extremely surprised, too, but smiled nonetheless at the guest._

_Shade, Chase and Di were exchanging looks, then turned towards their second-in-command who only shrugged one shoulder._

_"Oh, Nyx, I'm finished, have a look at it!" the brunette said enthusiastically, proudly holding up a book._

_The face of the addressed slowly lit up after realizing what that was. "Congratulations", she told the shorter fairy with a bright smile._

_Then she hastily looked over the animal fairy's shoulder to her team and said, "Start without me. I'll follow shortly after", before leading Fawn to the table in the back of the room._

_The four teammates hesitantly left the room, closing the doors behind them, and silently went down the corridor._

_After twenty steps, Fury dared to look to the side at the others. Di was outright shocked, Shade had her eyebrows lifted in pure surprise and unasked questions, and Chase opened her mouth to hiss out the most basic question. "What was that about?"_

_"I wish I knew ...", Fury mumbled while continuing to walk outside._

_Nyx took more than a "short" amount of time to follow them._

* * *

Fawn had written the book about the Neverbeast that Nyx had suggested. She had really felt better when she had been done. Actually, she had already felt better the morning after the scout had kept her company, going back to her work with renewed enthusiasm. Her evenings, though, had still been spent apart from her friends to write and think.

When the book had been finished, Fawn hadn't been able to not show it to the black-haired fairy. Despite her enthusiasm, she had been a little nervous about going into the scouts' headquarters, never having been there before. Not that any fairy or sparrow man aside from the scout talent had any actual business in there.

The other scouts had been more than surprised to see her, but had told her where she would be finding Nyx. Only the leader's team itself had been eyeing her warily. But the animal fairy had been able to ignore it after seeing Nyx's friendly reception.

After excusing herself for some time from her team's next action, the taller fairy had taken so much time to actually look at her book and read it and not just flick through the pages.

At the end of it, staring at the last page with the seal of the animal talent to show of which talent the author of the book was, Nyx had asked Fawn what she would think of the scout putting her talent's seal below it to show the equal approval of the book's content. Maybe that way scouts in the future generation could be sure that this wasn't just an animal fairy's perspective on it and that the Neverbeast really was their friend. The brunette had liked the idea and had been happy when she saw the stylised pine cone below the paw print along with the handwritten words, _All respect is due to this selfless creature_.

Fawn hadn't been able to believe that Nyx was still nice to her; she had thought it to be a one-time thing because the scout might have felt sorry for her. She didn't know what it meant, but she was very glad about the scout's action that night. To the animal fairy, it marked the turning point in their relationship.

But what were they afterwards?

While Fawn was just getting accustomed to a nice Nyx, meeting her regularly from then on and thus thinking they could be friends, something about the scout's behaviour was still changing.

* * *

**A/N: ****This chapter totally messed with my plan for it. But, as we all know, things never go according to plan. The flashback – that is now effectively providing the whole chapter – was supposed to be way shorter. _Way …!_ It was supposed to be embedded in the "current events", but with the way it turned out, it would have stretched this chapter too much regarding its length. So I had to give this first chapter a slightly different structure and cut out the planned beginning of the "current events" in the story (that will be in chapter two, then). It feels a little bit wrong to me now, more like a second prologue, but I hope that to you it comes across as okay.**

****Sounds like this story is a messy thing at the beginning, but let's see what it will turn into ;)****

**I'm gonna mention here that I'm finding Disney's body/head proportion weird. Especially for the women. Nyx's breadth across the shoulders is one (strong) arm broader than Fawn's. I mean, that's good for Nyx (particularly seeing as she is a scout), but it's still so out of proportion D8 And it makes Fawn so small in comparison.**


	3. Display of Beauty, Part I

**A/N: Ugh, this chapter turned out so long! I have a concept for the chapters regarding their titles. They depict parts of the impressing process. I have something in mind for each part (like, the main thing that will happen in it) and the "smaller things" just happen to be. I'll write under the same chapter title until I am done with the "main event". This way, the word count happened to be rather large for this chapter. Thus, I split it into two and put a "Part I" there. The next chapter will be "Part II". Just so you don't wonder. I don't like chapters _that_ huge.**

**So, this is how I actually imagined the beginning of the current events in the story – adjusted to the flashback not being part of it anymore as well as I could.**

**And now: Creep alert!**

* * *

_**~ Display of Beauty, Part I ~**_

The "cliff incident" between Fawn and Nyx had been some weeks ago. They still had had to talk a few things out to pave the way, regarding their jobs and Fawn's seeming love for dangerous animals. Fawn had put it aside, saying that for the moment, she had had enough excitement from hiding animals. She had promised Nyx that she would know when the animal fairy was about to be up to it again. It was all the head scout could have asked for at that time.

So once they had overcome their mutual hesitance and tension about actually opening up to the other one, nothing stood their newly found interest for the respective other fairy in the way.

By now, the two fairies casually met up from time to time, not seeing each other as regularly and often as Fawn saw the gang, but still. All the time, the scout would be nice to her; not forced in any way, but actually because she seemed to like being with the brunette. It made Fawn call her a friend.

After the Neverbeast book had been written and the animal fairy had overcome her grief, she had hurried to get back to her group of friends. They had been glad to see her laughing again and wouldn't believe it when she had told them who it was due to. When she had told them the outline of the night Nyx had stepped up to her, they had all gone, "Aaaw" – well, except for Vidia, who had only raised an eyebrow –, upon hearing about the steely scout taking their little troublemaker – right in second place behind Tinker Bell – into her arms and letting her sob all over her.

"That doesn't sound like her", Rosetta commented.

"She _had_ to apologize to you after seeing you were right about Gruff", Tinker Bell said.

"Yeah, but why is she going _that_ soft on her?" Vidia asked.

"Maybe because she wanted to compensate her earlier wrong-doing about Gruff?" Iridessa suggested.

"Or she spontaneously found that she likes you", Silvermist said with a smile.

They had decided that this had to be the reason after the group got to see Nyx up close when she would look for Fawn and acted friendly with the animal fairy. Iridessa, Silvermist, Tinker Bell, Vidia and Rosetta had gotten used to this new development, keeping a friendly, polite contact to the scout themselves. Fawn herself had only recently gotten used to this new friendship, aka the scout being nice to her. It still felt new and crazy to her every time she thought about it.

* * *

That being said, Fawn didn't notice the change in Nyx's behaviour at first. It was so subtle, so unspecific in the beginning, it really could have been anything. Maybe a sudden strike of doing or needing something new, like we all had from time to time – like Fawn herself had had only recently, visible in her new style –, or maybe it was just that it had escaped Fawn's observation up until this point. The animal fairy didn't really feel bad about the second possibility. Her main attention and close observation _was_ with animals, after all.

What made her look closer, though, were the slowly accumulating questions of her friends.

"Can Nyx reach an even higher rank or why is she walking around stiffer than ever when we see her?" Vidia remarked at one time.

On another day, when they had just met up, Tinker Bell suddenly wanted to know, "Hey, has Nyx already given you feedback on the new sharpener I developed for the porcupine quills she uses as spears?"

"Do you know if there's something or some_one_ that inspired Nyx to care more about her physical appearance, Sweetie?" Rosetta asked, always curious about such a kind of gossip. And of course sensible for seeing such a thing.

Iridessa carefully approached the animal fairy one afternoon and asked, "Fawn, did you notice that Nyx is coming by more often? Even if it's just to say a short hello. But every time, she only really cares about you." – "Yes, and before that, she checks herself out in a puddle of water or something similar", Silvermist added, recalling the water telling her this.

It confused the animal fairy deeply to hear these things from her friends about her new friend. Why would they even care about it that much if the scout was only friends with her? And why were they observing these things on the black-haired fairy in the first place?

But what was even worse was that Fawn felt very stupid for having to answer everything with having no idea or not knowing what was going on. It frustrated her massively.

Wanting – _needing_ – to find out if her friends were only talking her into something or if Nyx actually acted differently, she decided that she would have to study the scout fairy with closer attention.

She knew that she needed to do so both without the scout knowing about her observation and with her direct interaction to be able to say something about the matter. It was actually like it was with animals, she realized …

_Well, it's time for a field study!_

The animal fairy decided to start with the part where she would hide and see. This usually gave her the information about the basic behaviour. Deciding that it was unnecessary in this case, she left without any writing utensils. However, some food, she took with her.

On the way to the Autumn Forest – on the border of which the scouts' headquarters stood at a cliff's edge –, Fawn pondered how to go about her quest. As head of the scouts and leader of the elite team, Nyx could be anywhere. Deep in the headquarters making plans or assigning orders regarding said plans to other scout fairies, patrolling the rather dangerous borders with her team, or just checking up with her subordinates of the different scouting branches stationed throughout Pixie Hollow.

She considered asking around for the long-haired fairy, but discarded that thought, at least for now, because whoever she asked would most probably tell Nyx about it. And that would mean she would act slightly differently if she was aware of anything.

So Fawn had decided to fly to the headquarters first. When she reached the huge plane tree towering above them, she went to hide on one of the higher branches as inconspicuously as possible. She didn't have much to do on this day, so she decided to wait and just view the scene in hope of seeing Nyx at some point.

Taking up a comfortable position, Fawn's eyes roamed over the beaver-hewn stubs of tree trunks that formed the scouts' headquarters, looking rather empty at this time of the day, over the open space in front of them, the rare entrance holes in the side, and the surroundings.

The only fairies and sparrow men that she could see were the scouts in the lookout towers, two guards per entrance and some stray scouts that came to and flew from the headquarters. At least they had uniforms for each scouting branch that were clearly different from each other, making it easier to spot someone from the elite team. If they were to come by, that is ...

The animal fairy sat in her spot for some hours, getting more and more bored. This was the exact opposite of what the brunette usually did, as she loved to play and run or fly around. Only sitting on a branch, covered by a leaf, waiting and watching, felt terrible to her. _There's no way I could ever be a scout fairy_, she thought as she realized that this was exactly what most of them did most of the day.

It was hard for Fawn to stay in place; every time a bird or bug flew by or even landed on her branch, she was so tempted to talk to it, to stroke it, or to fly with it. But she stayed strong and shooed them away.

Many huffs and sighs and changes of position later, there was finally bustling activity going on. Fawn straightened her back curiously. This had to be a change of shift, she realized, as there were really a lot of them and the scouts in the lookout towers obviously changed. Expectantly, the brunette braced her arms on the branch and leaned forward on them. Even a team leader could show themselves during such a change, couldn't they?

_Come on, Nyx, where are you?_

The waiting fairy was only rewarded when the commotion had mostly died down, spotting the uniform of the elite team and long black hair on a fairy that left the headquarters. _Bingo_.

Nyx was talking to a few fairies of other branches that surrounded her before they flew off to presumably fulfil their tasks. After they were gone, Di stepped up to her side, having waited for her superior in the open courtyard. When the black-haired fairy met her gaze and nodded once, they took into the air.

Fawn didn't have a plan, as she suddenly realized, and scrambled to her feet to follow them spontaneously, keeping a distance that she hoped was sufficient to not be noticed by them. The fact that none of them turned around brought her to the conclusion that she was successful.

Their fly ended in an outer area of Pixie Hollow, where the two scouts landed next to a single branch of holly on the ground. The brunette hurried to hide behind a bush around forty steps behind the two scouts. Hiding like this, she felt like she was doing something she wasn't supposed to do.

Well, wasn't she? Kind of …

Carefully peeking out of the leaves, Fawn saw that Nyx and Di were investigating something regarding the branch. The redhead seemed to be reporting something to her superior, as she was speaking the whole time, back straight, and occasionally pointing at something on the scene. Nyx, on the other hand, walked around, scanning the ground for any hints, kneeling down from time to time to touch and turn something.

Only after a few moments of casual on-looking did it hit Fawn that she should start with her observation or her chance would be gone. So she concentrated on Nyx alone, watching her move, scanning over her appearance, to take everything in.

The scout's movements seemed as ever to the brunette; back upright, but a tad more relaxed than the fairy subordinate to her. Yet, every single one of her moves emanated strength and self-confidence.

What else was there? Rosetta had said something about her physical appearance, the animal fairy remembered. But she couldn't see anything that was new on Nyx at first glance.

A scout couldn't do much about their clothes, as they all wore uniforms. Nyx also didn't wear any particular make-up, still. The black-haired fairy was pretty nevertheless; _any_ fairy was basically pretty the way she was, really. The brunette had meant what she had said when she had called the scout's face pretty at her doorstep directly after the cliff incident.

After this thought, during which Fawn had studied the other fairy's face, her eyes seemed to be more susceptible to details. They were roaming over the bowed body while the head scout was kneeling down to swipe through the loose earth with one of her hands.

Fawn's gaze landed between Nyx's wings. The porcupine quill that hang there had caught her eye. It was weirdly gleaming in the light, quite unnaturally. And she knew what those things naturally looked like, seeing them often enough on the living owners of them. The animal fairy pondered what the potential reason for the unusual look of it could be.

Only the consideration that this was a weapon helped her come to a conclusion. It had to be thoroughly polished.

Or … was that even a special coating covering it? It had a certain gloss to it, actually …

Staring at the spear with her mouth agape, Fawn was speechless. She had never seen this before. When one of the scouts' personal weapons was battered and not stored in the headquarters anymore, they would usually ask one of the animal fairies to get them a new porcupine quill that they would forge into their desired weapon. They simply used their weapons and got new ones once the weapon's time was over. What was Nyx trying to do with hers?

She then remembered what Tinker Bell had mentioned about a special sharpener. Was the point of the spear on Nyx's back sharper than the usual? Fawn surely couldn't tell. Although … Wasn't the quill smaller in a longer section than it usually was? That … meant that the thing was sharper, didn't it …?

Oh, Fawn couldn't tell what this meant. She was no tinker, after all. Maybe she should talk to Tinker Bell about it. Yes, that was a good idea.

But she still wouldn't know what the good of a sharper spear would be. Well.

Looking at the gleaming porcupine quill, she noticed something else in that area of the scout's body. Just like the weapon, Nyx's wings appeared to be shining a little more. They caught and reflected the light considerably more at certain angles, meaning they were cleaner than the usual.

Maybe they had gotten muddy and the black-haired fairy thus had gone to get them scrubbed? It was the only thing Fawn could think of.

In this moment, Nyx got up from the ground, talking to Di, and only slightly brushed off some earth and dirt from her hands and legs, leaving speckles of it on her uniform. Sure, Nyx didn't mind getting dirty during her job, Fawn knew that, but it was currently presenting a contrast to her rather newly developed care about her weapon and possibly her wings, too. At the same time, even if there _was_ a little something different, the animal fairy couldn't believe that Rosetta would mention anything about the scout looking better if it was only for those two aspects.

While Fawn was still staring intently at her new friend, the latter and her subordinate turned around to leave. Hastily ducking into the bush, the brunette hoped that they wouldn't see her, with them being scouts and thus noticing certain things like maybe someone secretly examining them. She was still mulling over the things she'd seen (or rather not) and the things her friends had said when the two fairies were long gone.

* * *

"Tink, what can you tell me about the sharpener you gave to Nyx? Did she … I don't know, maybe mention what exactly for she would need it?"

Tinker Bell, leaning over her current work on a work desk, jumped in place at this unexpected address.

"Oh, hey Fawn! I didn't expect you here", she said honestly after having turned around.

"Obviously", Fawn replied with a small chuckle. "So?"

Tinker Bell thought for only a second, "Well, it's obviously to sharpen her spear!"

The animal fairy sighed. "Yes, that much is indeed obvious! But why would she need a sharper spear? Did she tell you anything about that?"

Tapping her index finger against her cheek, the blonde pondered. "She only said something about wanting to try something out. I didn't question it further. Should I have done that?"

"No, no, it's fine." Fawn shook her hands in refusal. "I just would have liked to know ..." She lightly scratched the back of her head with one hand.

"Why don't you ask her directly? I thought you two were friends now", the tinker suggested with her eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"I … I ..." Fawn began walking up and down in front of her friend, ignoring other tinkers staring at her, "I kind of can't at the moment!"

"Why-"

"_Anyway_, there's also … this coating that she seems to be using on the spear. Do you know anything about _that_, maybe ...?"

"No, I don't know anything about Nyx asking for a coating." The tinker slowly walked up to her friend, beginning to talk, "Fawn, why do you ask me these things? And why are you so worked up about it?"

The addressed stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking Tinker Bell in the eyes, wearing an uneasy expression.

When she didn't reply, Tinker Bell said with a smile, "Come on, tell me."

After having directed her gaze to the side, the brunette spoke, "I don't know … All of you are telling me how Nyx slightly changes, pointing out bits and pieces that seem to be different. But I don't see it. I don't notice her being different."

Seeing the slightly sour expression on the face of the other fairy, Tinker Bell felt for her. Sliding her hand down to her elbow and squeezing her arm once, she said, "There's nothing bad about you not noticing all these things. We others just don't see her as often as you do, so some things seem different to us. And in my case, her visit was work-related. As long as you're okay with the way Nyx is, everything is all right." The tinker was beaming at her friend, hoping this would cheer her up.

But the animal fairy blurted out, "I even observed her, Tink! I tried to observe her neutrally without her knowing, but didn't find any of the things you guys mentioned! Except for her spear. Something can't be right there!"

The blonde watched her with a weird expression, seeing the frustration clear in the brunette fairy's posture. "You … You observed her?"

"Yes ..." Fawn replied in exasperation. "Like … Like I do with animals sometimes."

This actually made sense to the tinker fairy and made her soften. For Fawn, this was a normal thing to do when studying behaviour. Only that it wasn't so normal for fairies who weren't of the animal talent.

So she asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course! How else could I find out?"

"You could just normally talk to her and see what's up. And … you could simply ask her about the spear, for example."

"That's … not how I can find out whether what you all are saying is true … And I want to know!"

Tinker Bell sighed. She knew Fawn's eagerness for a thing when she saw it, and right now was such a moment. If she thought about it, the brunette wasn't doing anything against any laws or rules with it, actually. So she only gave her the advice, "But try not to think too much into it, all right? Rather talk to Nyx than … just watch her."

"Yeah, yeah, I will." Fawn waved her hand aside. She knew she just _had_ to study Nyx a little more in order to know what was up. Maybe she could talk to her, though, after that. With a sigh, she faced Tinker Bell again, and said, "I guess I'm going then. Some animals are waiting for me to actually do something with them today." She chuckled nervously.

"I see. Sorry that I couldn't really help you", the tinker replied apologetically.

"It's fine, Tink. So, fly with you later!" Waving at her friend, she left Tinkers' Nook to finally do her actual work.

* * *

Of course she had to continue. There was no way Fawn could have just stopped her observation if she was curious about a behaviour.

So she flew to the plane by the scouts' headquarters as often as she could the following week. Not every time was she lucky enough to see the scout who she came to see, either because she didn't have enough time or because the other fairy simply wouldn't pass by the scene.

The few times that she did manage to watch her gave her one new successful observation point: From time to time, Nyx would have little braids in her long black hair. Fawn had been hardly able to discover them from afar, making her wish to see Nyx up close wearing them.

Was this one of the things Rosetta had meant about her new physical appearance, or had the scout already been doing this before she had been close to her? She couldn't tell since she hadn't been around the other fairy often enough before their friendship.

The spear on Nyx's back, along with the wings, on the other hand, had lost some of its shine. By this, Fawn wasn't actually too surprised. It convinced her that those two pieces had been a one-time thing and meant nothing.

Just when the animal fairy was about to put the whole matter aside – let her have small braids in her hair – and stop this ridiculous observation, things suddenly changed noticeably.

Nyx would use her hand to brush through her hair – partly braided or not – when she was alone or when she thought nobody was watching her. The spear was back to gleaming from probably being freshly polished, and sharpened. When the scout was out with her whole team and Fawn followed them, keeping an eye on them from a hidden spot, she was sure that the demeanour of the taller fairy was suddenly slightly different. Her moves seemed expansive; she was still kind of stiff, as she always was when manoeuvring the whole other four scouts directly subordinate to her, showing strength and confidence, but this new addition – and the puffed out chest – also demonstrated courage. It made her look a tad more dominant compared to her fellow scouts, especially since she was the one giving the orders. Yet she wasn't afraid to get herself dirty. On the contrary, she quite seemed to throw herself into the physical part of the investigation. But she would always make sure that she wiped the earth from her uniform and wore a fresh one without dirt on it every other day.

Hiding behind a boulder, only slightly peeking her head out to watch the scene in front of her, Fawn creased her eyebrows. The new impressions caused her deep confusion. But they also made her heart speed up, as she was glad that she had been patient enough until she actually saw a change in Nyx, too. Now she only had to find out what this all was about.

It was time for the next step in her observation.

* * *

Fawn stood leaning against a mushroom, staring ahead and letting her mind wander. It was late afternoon and she was meeting up with Nyx, waiting as she was a bit early.

She heard the hectic flutter of a pair of wings, but only turned around when a voice said, "Hello, Fawn. I'm sorry I'm late."

"You aren-", she began with a smile on her face, but had to stop mid-sentence because of the appearance greeting her.

Mouth still open, the animal fairy finally took in Nyx from up close. It was so different from examining her from afar that it stunned her.

The head scout stood tall and even straighter than Fawn remembered ever seeing her.

Her hair was partly bound into small braids, just like the brunette had noticed from afar, but it was sooo different seeing them from such a short distance, making it possible to actually make out the braids and not just guessing that they were there.

Her uniform was clean and straight – unlike her own clothes that had already endured some funny tussles with the weasels this day and probably bore some overseen specks of dirt somewhere on her back.

Even her wings were freshly scrubbed, surprising the shorter fairy. _Maybe she just fell into a puddle of mud yesterday and got everything cleaned up until today_, she tried to reason with herself.

That would also explain why the spear on her back was shining from a new polish. _Probably some muddy mission yesterday. _Again_, but totally possible. Yup._

Her gaze finally landed on Nyx's face, almost missing the warm smile between these many impressions.

"Nyx", she spoke, collecting her thoughts. "You aren't late." A smile found its way onto her lips as well. "I just left a bit early. The weasels were quick."

"I'd hope so. They _are_ weasels", Nyx repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Let's walk."

It was what they had planned to do; a simple walk in the afternoon, in-between work. At least, the sun was shining. So Fawn started, idly walking towards the stream of water dividing Autumn Forest and Summer Glade. Nyx went by her side, both silent at first.

_She's still keeping her back completely straight_, Fawn noticed out of the corner of her eye. _But it doesn't look weird on her._

They were more than an arm's length apart; nothing special for them. Since the cliff incident, they had hardly touched each other, or at least not as closely. Sometimes, the animal fairy found that to be strange. But then again, the scout didn't strike her as someone who was very physically affectionate.

This didn't mean that Fawn didn't sometimes fondly think of their clinging to each other the night on the cliff. And how much she had liked the contact.

"I haven't seen you in weeks", Nyx began. "What have you been up to?"

Feeling her nerves rising, Fawn could only think of her observations of the other fairy. Temporarily distracted like this, she didn't see the pebble that her foot hit, causing her to stumble.

The black-haired fairy reached out to her, but Fawn caught herself with a quick roll over her shoulder, landing with one knee placed on the ground. "Whoa!"

"Careful, Fawn!" Nyx closed the distance between them, kneeling down, too, and placing one hand on the shorter fairy's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yep!" She hastily smiled at the other one.

With the dress she wore these days, she had other fairies' hands in a direct contact on her skin when they touched her shoulder. The scout's bracer scraping against her completely bare skin always reminded her extra of it. Briefly, she wondered if the tan fairy ever took them off except for the night.

"I was just thinking about the fun I had with the birds and centipedes in the past weeks!" she tried as a reasonable excuse for her slip. And thus as an answer to Nyx's question.

The black-haired fairy furrowed one eyebrow, saying, "Oh, really?" After getting to her feet, she helped the shorter fairy up by her elbow. "So tell me what you did."

"Weee ...", Fawn drew out, trying to come up with something. "We practised loops and rotations during flight! Well, that's for the birds, anyways. And the centipedes were newborns, they had to learn to coordinate all of their feet!" She gestured around with her arms, wiggling her fingers like they were said feet, all the while giggling at this, as she actually remembered the sight. It was always so funny to watch. What she was telling wasn't even a lie; she _had_ done these things during the past weeks, it just hadn't been her _main_ occupation …

At this, the scout smiled as well.

"What have you been up to?" Fawn turned towards the other fairy. It wasn't like she didn't _somehow_ know the answer after all of her observation. But the exact answer was unknown to her.

Nyx snorted. "Do you really need to ask that?" She was looking into Fawn's eyes with an inquiring look.

"Err, yes! It's not like I would know!" The brunette continued to walk. With the scout in her back, she could hide her twisted mouth and uncomfortable expression – due to having to lie her way through this – for a short moment. Why did the other fairy have to ask this?

"Hmm." The taller fairy mused. "I was investigating something with my team. We found a branch of holly far off from any holly trees or shrubs. And the ground was stirred. It turned out some bird must've plucked the branch and then dropped it. Luckily it wasn't anything else."

"That's good to hear!" Fawn admitted, despite perking up at the idea of some other, unknown animal carrying the branch around. Now it also made sense what she had witnessed the scouts doing; as she had been able to see what they were doing, but didn't know what it had been about. That reminded her of something else.

"Um, Nyx?" She was turning around, walking backwards for a few steps, then stopped both of them by grasping Nyx's shoulders. "I've been wondering … what's up with your spear?"

At the scout's perplexed expression, she explained, "Well, I've never seen it gleaming so much. I guess you must be polishing it a lot, maybe even use some coating on it. And it … looks pointier." For some reason feeling nervous stating these things – probably because she was indirectly admitting to her spying –, Fawn averted her eyes.

This way, she missed the other fairy's lips curl into a smile, and only looked back when she felt both of the other's – partly covered – hands on each of her forearms.

Nyx stepped out of the brunette's grasp, letting her own hands slide down the pale arms that were in them until she held Fawn's wrists. Only keeping them for a second, she squeezed them once before releasing them. "I'm surprised you noticed."

The animal fairy watched her strutting around her in a quarter circle, clearly amused. It made her a little nervous.

She couldn't help but feel Nyx's posture to be more present than usually. Why was that?

"I'm just testing something. I've found it to be too annoying when I need a new spear, because they all feel different. The balance and thus the handling for every one is slightly different. I choose every new spear I carry with a lot of consideration and that's why it takes me some time when I need a new one. So I'm trying to make my current spear more durable. If it works, every scout's weapon could be treated that way. Or at least those made from porcupine quills. Polishing is care for a weapon, to get rid of any dirt and such, and I thought of a way to make my weapon stronger and make less dirt stick to it in the first place by using a coating."

During this, her hand had reached over her shoulder to touch the object, moving her fingers over it in a stroke.

Fawn was actually surprised that there was so much to it, never having considered that single porcupine quills could be so different from each other in the way of serving as a weapon. To her, they varied in thickness, length, exact surface structure, and stripe pattern; she had never thought scouts would see a difference in them and base their choice for a porcupine quill for their weapon on it.

Instantly admiring the attention that apparently went into it, the animal fairy stepped behind the head scout, collected all of the long, black hair in both her hands first and held it all together in one hand to the side then to finally take a good look at the spear on Nyx's back.

The responsive gasp, along with the sudden tension in the other fairy's body and the hasty retraction of her own, half-clad hand, was lost to her.

The brunette was focusing her gaze upon the white-black rod, furrowing her brows in concentration. "Hmmm ...", she hummed. Without asking, she put her free hand on the spear, feeling along its length down and up and down.

The taller fairy stood like a rock in front of her, sensing the movement through the holder of the spear that was attached to her uniform.

"By the feeling of the surface, I wouldn't recognize it as a porcupine quill anymore. If anything, it feels like a feather quill now with the coating and the polishing", was Fawn's report on the surface's haptic condition.

She only felt Nyx turning her head by the hair in her hand as her eyes weren't leaving the quill.

"Do you always feel things up like that?" asked the scout over her shoulder in an uneven voice.

Smirking, Fawn began, "Only", she put her hand from the spear to Nyx's side, both pulling the scout back against herself and taking a small step forward to lightly press up her front against the broader back, "if it's something related to animals", she finished in a low and playful voice. As fast as it had happened, she released the black-haired fairy again with a giggle.

Before the dumbfounded scout could even try to find her voice, the small bundle of energy continued, "By the way, your hair is beautiful like that. Oh! N- Not that it wouldn't be beautiful anyways, because it really is, I mean, it even feels good, so I guess you're taking good care of it and- That's not what I actually meant by it." Fawn took an audible breath, chuckling awkwardly. "I mean that I think your new small braids in it are beautiful." She smiled honestly while the scout turned around to face her.

There was pure surprise visible in the scout's whole expression, but she found back to a confident posture and a small yet very deep smile that was highlighted by her round cheeks. "I'm glad you like them", she replied in her deep voice.

Fawn continued walking ahead, leading them through stems of plants on her way to the stream of water. "So, if it's such an annoyance to you, why did you only now come to think of doing something about the spears?" she asked without looking back.

Still standing on the previous spot, Nyx didn't know what to make of the scene that had just transpired, but shook all thoughts of it aside as she heard the question. Slowly looking to the side, she answered, "How should I know? At some point it simply happens that you think something should actually change", in a very controlled voice before following behind the shorter fairy.

It was true, Fawn thought. Slightly shaking her head with a smile, she remembered her own crass change of style not too long ago. But then she suddenly realized this was not exactly the same as Nyx's current change.

The other fairy didn't change her style – she was putting more effort into small things about herself as they were: Caring about a hair style instead of just wearing her long hair open as she usually did, as well as probably scrubbing her wings not just for the sake of cleaning them after getting them dirty during her work; both giving attention to her own physical appearance. Finally going through with the idea of improving her personal spear, turning up in front of other fairies with a flawless uniform despite digging in the dirt if her job called for it, and working on a stronger presence; all befitting her position as head scout.

_Oh, of course-! _It dawned on Fawn then.

_She's trying to impress. Even if not very aggressively ..._

Eyes wide, the shorter fairy couldn't help the chuckle leaving her throat at the thought. For some reason, she found it very amusing.

Behind her, she could hear Nyx ask apprehensively, "What's so funny?"

Her bemused reply was, "Oh, I just noticed something." Turning around with a smile to take in the other fairy after her realization, gazing over her gracefully striding form from head to toe and back up, another thought surprising as the one before struck her – _She's really pretty._

Now it wasn't difficult for a fairy to be considered pretty as she had thought often enough – even the rather stiff and perhaps not so feminine Nyx was basically pretty the way she was. But it was the scout's new use of her incredibly long and thus beautiful hair and the slightly changed poise of her body – both set into motion – that the animal fairy admired at this very moment.

Yep, her skills of observation were really useful once she decided to use them … Even if that decision had come a little late perhaps in this case of a fairy.

So, the scout here in front of her was probably trying to impress someone. It was subtle, apparently, hardly counting as courtship behaviour.

Nope, there weren't any actual actions that really indicated that behaviour yet.

And from what Fawn knew, the taller fairy wasn't seeing anyone in that way since a rather long time. But she also hadn't mentioned anything regarding this subject or any particular name that potentially _could_ have hinted the brunette at it. _So just who …_

"I'd like to know what it is that you noticed if it makes you grin at me like that all the while while walking backwards, Fawn."

The addressed hadn't noticed the other fairy's expectant expression during her mental analysis. Deciding that it wasn't the right time to speak about it, since it could have been just her imagination about the impressing _someone_ part at this point, she only said, "Oh, I just realized it's spring and thought about what that means." _Like rutting time, for example._

To the animal fairy, this topic was so different when it was regarding fairies and sparrow men and not animals.

She fixed Nyx with a short pointed look before dropping the matter for now. Or at least drop it so much that the taller fairy wouldn't notice her thinking about it – Because really, this topic seemed to be going to occupy her mind, as she could already feel.

"I guess to you animal fairies it really must be something special", the scout replied, now walking next to her conversational partner.

"Yup, it really is", Fawn said happily with a smile. Her head turned to look at the black-haired fairy, thinking that scouts had to do basically all the same tasks throughout the entire year. She couldn't imagine it for herself; but Nyx seemed completely content with her work, being the head scout that she was.

The brunette felt her heart swell at the thought of having made a friend in this fairy – while at the same time it prompted her new realization forward in her mind, dulling the previous happiness somewhat.

Confused by this, the shorter fairy lowered her head and tried to think of something to divert her thoughts and make normal conversation again. She mentally went through what they had talked about before, finding a small matter left open.

"Um, Nyx? You explained to me why you polish and coat your spear, but you didn't tell me anything about why it might be pointier now."

The addressed stopped at that, staring at the stream of water in front of them which they had reached. She turned towards her companion who had stopped as well, saying, "It's indeed pointier as well. I kind of sharpened it, to make it more effective at the same time and not only more durable."

"More effective? How is your spear more effective that way?" Fawn didn't know that much about weaponry, and Nyx's spear had seemed effective enough to her.

The taller fairy slowly cocked her head to the side, smirking, and fixed the other fairy's gaze with her own. "Oh, you know ... Pointy things are effective for several things; for throwing them and … for penetration."

The last words were spoken playfully, giving them emphasis. Unfortunately, Fawn wasn't sure in which way exactly they were meant. They certainly held a particular … _ambiguity_, as she noticed.

Clearing her throat and averting her eyes, she said, "Erm, yeah, now that you mention it ..."

Nyx always had this intense way about her that set the animal fairy on edge. To the latter's surprise, it worked even now that they were friends.

She wondered if the intention which she suspected the scout to have of courting someone led her to such playfulness or if it was just normal for her and she simply hadn't gotten to see it yet.

Cursing herself for her slip of mind back to that topic, she started towards the water, needing to distract herself with some activity. So the brunette flew to the water plants, jumping from leaf to leaf with strong leaps, feeling the watchful eyes of the scout on her, but not caring. Fawn was used to other fairies staring at her when she added somersaults and pirouettes to her sprinting and flying. No one could break the pure joy she felt in these freeing movements, and she let them watch.

Maybe she did care a little about this fairy eyeing her, for she put just a little more conscious effort into every move she made.

Nyx couldn't help but witness the action of the shorter fairy with amusement. To her, it was still new to see. She knew Fawn cowering or tense in front of her before they came to get along. Smiling, she couldn't help but think how free the brunette looked. It felt strange and a little intimate to see the shorter fairy like this.

The fresh smell of the water registered in the black-haired fairy's mind, causing her to take a deep breath. Hearing the croaking of frogs to accompany the "dance" musically and seeing the bugs and water insects joining her, eliciting even more laughs from her, the head scout didn't feel any desire to reach Fawn now. She just wanted to watch her. Watch this. Her heart was pounding.

Catching sight of the scout's face, Fawn's lips twitched upwards in a smile of her own now that the black-haired fairy didn't scowl at her anymore whenever she saw her.

* * *

Despite probably knowing the reason for everything that was up with the scout, Fawn still had to continue her observation. She definitely felt easier now after having met up with the other fairy and probably having the answer to her behaviour, but she couldn't simply stop. She didn't know how to when her mind was still circling around the topic and she wasn't sure if she was right as for her assumption. Not that she had asked Nyx.

Although ... why didn't she? Since they were friends, they should be able to talk about such things. After all, the animal fairy had been crying in the scout's arms – What a start to intimate things between them. Fawn's eyebrows creased and she worried her bottom lip.

For another week, she had been sitting and hiding on the plane by the scouts' headquarters, observing and sometimes following Nyx to observe her even more. The head scout seemed the same as she had been when Fawn had scrutinized her the previous week.

What for was the taller fairy trying to impress? She already held the highest possible rank among her talent. So it was rather a _who_ that she had to be trying to impress.

But … just _who_ was it?

Fawn was currently sitting on the middle of a branch of the huge tree, legs slightly bent, and leaned forwards, head in her hands, to place her elbows on her knees.

She had been thinking about the matter far too much during the past days, not entirely sure why. Maybe it was because the other fairy didn't seem like the type who often did this and thus the matter was more interesting. Or because her friends had pricked her to look into the matter about Nyx, and this was the result that she found, requiring her to further think about it to conclude it. Or … because she was disappointed that the amount of time with her new friend would be smaller when the other one would have a special someone …

That Nyx would care for someone else the way she had done for Fawn the night on the cliff, that she would speak to someone else like she had spoken to her, and that she would hold someone else like she had held the brunette. Even if it had only been that one time ...

Oh.

There it was again. This odd, faint pang in her heart, making her freeze momentarily and her facial expression fall.

Fawn didn't know what it was. It had been like this a few times now while she had thought about her finding.

She had suspected Nyx would be interested in another scout, seeing how much time she spent with them. But not once had she seen the black-haired fairy acting … like she wanted more from any fairy or sparrow man that she had talked to while the animal fairy was observing her. Either this meant that Nyx wasn't after some scout or maybe … it only happened when the brunette couldn't come to watch, or only inside the headquarters …

Fawn shook her head, frustrated with her own thoughts. She gave off a groan.

Why did she care so much? Why didn't she just ask? She was so curious yet at the same time too shy regarding some things. Was this even shyness?

She was doing nothing but continuing to confuse herself.

Noticing a commotion down on the ground in front of an entrance to the headquarters, the brunette lifted her head to see what it was about. Nyx and her elite team stepped out onto the earthy ground. They gathered in a circle, and Nyx motioning with her hands easily led her to assume that she was the one speaking.

Anticipating the elite team's next action, the animal fairy rose to her feet, kind of glad to have a distraction from her current line of thinking.

It should have scared or at least astounded her how these movements had become a habit to her in just three weeks: Watching the scouts' headquarters and being able to guess when she had to move to be quick to follow her "target". Maybe she should apply for a position as spy to the scouts, she thought ironically. Nah, she still despised the waiting part. It left too much time – _too_ much – of being alone with your thoughts, and she didn't want to think to herself, but take action – or at least spend the time together with someone else.

Again, this made her think about her new friend.

All this interruption in her attention was causing her surprise now as she realized that Nyx was the only one left of her team down there to see. The other four must have flown away, but she hadn't registered where to. Fortunately, the one fairy left of them was the one she needed.

Strange, though, was Nyx's next action. The head scout took off into the air – heading for the tree that Fawn was being on. Not sure yet that the plane was the other fairy's actual destination and not willing to lose sight of her target, the brunette slowly took a few steps backwards until she stood by a twig, hoping to be in hiding enough.

But the taller fairy kept coming closer to the plane; and more precisely – the branch Fawn was standing on!

Uneasy feeling arising, the observer decided that flying away would only put her out in the open for the scout – as she was, well, a scout and would easily notice her –, so she kept walking backwards, carefully taking step after step, eyes fixated on the approaching form of which she could already make out the details.

What could Nyx possibly want here?! Worse, what if she saw her and asked what _she_ was doing here? Yikes! She had no reasonable reason to be in this spot, after all!

Thoughts running with forming excuses, she continued backing away from her earlier spot.

Fawn was expecting to hit the bark of the trunk with her back at some point, not checking the space with her eyes. So when she suddenly met a comparatively soft structure and two hands clasped firmly around her shoulders, her heart jumped to her throat and she let out a startled yelp.

Wanting to jerk around to see what was going on, Fawn found that the grip on her didn't falter. It only allowed her head to move fully, her body otherwise just being able to turn in a small degree. She caught sight of a fairy who glanced down on her, unfazed.

It was Shade who stood behind her. _What …?_

How hadn't she noticed this?

The brunette was aware of her gaping mouth as she stared back, but what was she supposed to do?

Remembering what had just been going on before, she hastily turned her head back to the front. A very serious-looking – Or was this already angry? – Nyx was only five steps away from her, and her whole attention seemed to be focused on the animal fairy.

_How …?_

_Why …?_

She was definitely at a loss for words, and it didn't get any better when the leader of the scouts started towards her with slow, purposeful strides. Following her natural instinct to flee in such a situation, the poor brunette pushed backwards, being sadly reminded of her predicament as Shade didn't really budge.

The thought occurred to her that the scouts had slightly different specialities, just as the animal fairies had; some of the latter were better at simply training the animals, some had better knowledge of this set of animals or that, some were incredibly precise in reading behaviour …

And Shade was the scout who could merge into the background and move silently.

When Nyx came to a halt directly in front of Fawn, not even leaving an arm's length between them, the shorter fairy couldn't help the gulp and the averting of her gaze. She definitely felt cornered – even though she actually was … sandwiched. Backing away from Nyx wasn't an option anymore after knowing that Shade was holding tight, plus it made her feel uneasy when she touched the front of the scout – although the quiet fairy didn't seem disturbed by it as she made no move to put any space between them as Fawn had stumbled against her stomach and breasts.

Anyway … What was this going to be? Could Nyx know?

Fawn felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest when the black-haired fairy in front of her placed her index finger under her chin, turning the shorter fairy's face back to face her. The brunette was ducking her head in apprehension, but looked at the head scout nevertheless.

The finger left her skin, leaving a weird phantom touch tingling.

Nyx seemed to straighten even further, making her need to look up even higher. The taller one had this naturally confident posture without any overly tensed muscles. Russet eyes were easily gazing into amber ones.

Nyx was so fierce, the animal fairy thought dreadfully.

Her eyes drifted from the furrowed brows and bared teeth to the spear on the back of the scout, its tip peeking out from behind the broad shoulder. She noticed something else the sharpened weapon was good for; it made Nyx look dangerous. Not that her frown and her skills wouldn't have served the same purpose to a satisfying extent, but, well … It made her look _more_ dangerous.

Heavy, they had been in verbal silence so far, only interrupted by the animal fairy's gasps and mewls of surprise.

"Fawn", the head scout spoke. She began with her name in this way that always rolled smoothly off her tongue.

Unfortunately, it held this edge of simultaneous expectance and beginning annoyance that the brunette was just too used to hearing from the time when they had clashed.

"Why are you watching me?" she finally confronted the shorter fairy.

* * *

**A/N: I was trying so hard not to put any deeper description of Nyx's actual thoughts and feelings into the scene in which she met Fawn at the stream since this chapter is supposed to be Fawn's perspective of not knowing what's going on with the scout. But at the end it just felt too wrong and superficial to not say a word about it, so I had to put her admiration for Fawn's flight in there at least.**

**Shade is the ninja of the group (at least that's my personal conclusion). (She's the one with the black hair in a ponytail, in case you didn't know. Since I didn't put any physical descriptions of her in here. My resource for character names that weren't mentioned in the movies, and for the names of places in Pixie Hollow is the Disney Fairies Wiki, by the way.) Her weapon is a sword that looks suspiciously like a wakizashi (a shorter katana) in length and in shape (slightly curved). She's shown meditating and (in one outtake scene) is sent ahead to check the site for any danger. Her silent depiction and the way she carries herself add to my impression. Oh, and her name, of course xD**


	4. Display of Beauty, Part II

_**~ Display of Beauty, Part II ~**_

"I don't know what you're talking about", the animal fairy replied.

She was trying her best to be casual about it, but only accomplished this to a moderate level in her nervous state.

"Oh yes of course you do. Don't play me for a fool", the scout in front of her replied vehemently.

"No, really, why would I-"

"More than enough scouts have reported to me during the past weeks that you were apparently watching me. From this exact spot. Or, if we went on a mission, you would follow us, follow me. So, tell me, what's this about?"

_Oh._

She knew.

She knew that the brunette had been observing her because other scouts had seen her.

How stupid could Fawn have been to believe she was able to hide well enough to remain unseen by any scouts? She was near their headquarters and flew by them if she had to follow Nyx when she was out to investigate something, after all. The shorter fairy shrank even further, guiltily looking down.

It wasn't helping that Shade stood behind her, still holding her by the shoulders to make sure she wouldn't escape. How could she, at all? Once the head scout had something set in her mind and spotted the animal fairy, she wouldn't let it go; wouldn't let _her_ go. No one was as meticulous with her as the leader of the scouts was. It was special in its own way.

Mind you; that didn't mean Fawn enjoyed this.

She had been caught red-handed – as peaceful as this was – and hadn't even been given the chance to try to talk herself out of it. The fairy in front of her had directly confronted her with proof. Typically Nyx.

Realizing that she was the one who was expected to speak next and none of the other two would break the silence, Fawn sighed. What could she say?

"I … I was observing you. Yeah." She still didn't dare to look up again. "But … the reason is really silly and kind of embarrassing." With this, she tried to wriggle her way out of having to tell Nyx the exact truth. Maybe the other fairy would show some mercy. She _couldn't_ tell her what she was doing! … Could she?

In front of her, she saw Nyx waving her hand to the side slowly. The grip on her shoulders vanished and some tension left her body along with it. A tension that she hadn't even been aware of before. Did that mean the head scout wasn't afraid of her flying away anymore? Good, but Shade didn't leave, either. The ninja-like scout only took one step backward.

With her eyes cast down, the animal fairy missed Nyx's face softening slightly.

"Can it be more embarrassing than crying in front of me on the first night we properly talked to each other?" the long-haired fairy asked without any attack in it.

Cringing because of knowing Shade was hearing this, Fawn closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure. Maybe … this is just a different kind of embarrassing?" Her left hand found the back of her neck and she rubbed it nervously. Her eyes met those of Nyx again. Seeing the harsh fierceness gone from the head scout's posture, she relaxed a little. But that didn't mean Nyx would drop the matter.

"Fawn", the black-haired fairy repeated with warning. "Just tell me what's going on."

It wasn't easy to forget that the other scout was still standing behind her. The topic itself was uncomfortable, but to talk about it while someone else was present made it even worse. As it seemed, though, Nyx wanted her to stay. Otherwise she probably would have sent her away. And Shade herself seemed to want to stay, since she didn't fly off.

_That's what you get for your your strange curiosity_, the short fairy thought miserably. _Time to get this over with._

"I … well, you see", she gestured about with her hands, clearing her throat, "I wanted to check up on you."

That sounded reasonable, didn't it?

"Why would you want to check up on me?" Black eyebrows creased.

_Good question._

"Becauuuse … you seemed a little off last time we met, and I wanted to make sure everything's all right!"

"From what I know, you started observing me even before the last time that we met." Her voice gave away her disbelief.

_That's true ..._

"Umm, yes, you're right, that's because actually … it were my friends who pointed out that something about you seemed off to them." Shifting restlessly, she gave Nyx an awkward smile. Fawn was a terrible liar when being cornered, and she knew it. That didn't mean she would give up or in so easily.

"Is that so? Why didn't you simply ask me if you thought such a thing?" Her back straightened back up.

"It seemed … wrong", the animal fairy admitted meekly. "So I wanted to see for myself."

"And what did you find out?" The voice was low and strict.

"I guess you're all right ...?" Fawn tried in an attempt of not having to delve into further details.

"And that took you weeks to conclude?" Nyx inquired, eyebrow lifting.

"I wanted to make sure!" the brunette defended herself.

"I'm pretty sure you'd have enough work to do instead of just watching me if you thought I'm fine, Fawn."

At this, the addressed didn't know what to reply.

"And I can't imagine you'd rather spend time observing fairies than being with animals if you had the chance", the scout kept probing.

It was a good point. Such a good point actually that Fawn didn't know how to weasel her way out of it if Nyx was aware of this.

Closing her eyes, the short fairy slowly, very slowly, sighed.

When she opened them, she decided to finally step out of this vertical sandwich that she was stuck in between two scouts. None of them stopped her.

She didn't understand why Shade was still there, especially if the lower-ranked scout had nothing to say now after having nothing to do anymore. But that was an aspect that she couldn't further care about.

Slightly angled away from Nyx yet not having her shoulder between them, Fawn got out, fidgeting, "My friends told me you were acting … different. I didn't know what they were talking about, so I decided to see for myself. Whenever I didn't have too much to do, I came here and waited until I saw you, then I just watched. Or, well, followed you when you flew out. And now I think I know what the reason behind your slight change is. You want to impress someone. Although I can't say who this is."

During this, she was staring straight ahead, not meeting anyone's eye. She didn't know why speaking this aloud made her so uneasy. In any case, Fawn only moved her eyes to take in the long-haired fairy for a second before flying off. The amount of discomfort was too much. Her feelings told her to leave, and she was still mostly following her heart – instead of her head.

Nyx, perplexed by this running off, only felt the start after the shorter fairy by her body, hand lifted and reaching for the leaving form. Catching herself, she looked at Shade. The other scout was fixing her with a curious gaze, posture erect, dawning realization glinting on her face.

The superior didn't know what to say.

"Tss!" She turned around and flew from the tree, following the three other fairies of her team to their current task.

The short time between leaving Shade and reaching Chase, Fury and Di allowed her to quell the agitation she felt.

* * *

"Guys, I think you're right."

Iridessa, Rosetta, Vidia, Tinker Bell and Silvermist were looking down at a troubled Fawn.

The animal fairy had instantly slumped down onto the ground as soon as she had arrived and said hello to everyone. After a sharp sigh, she had started the topic.

"What are you talking about?" Iridessa inquired.

After a moment of thinking, the brunette replied, "Nyx is trying to impress someone. I just can't tell who it is yet."

Upon hearing this, the others glanced at each other. Fawn was seeing them less and less since Nyx had appeared on the scene as her friend. It wasn't that they didn't grant her this, but the relationship seemed a little … _odd_ in parts. Something about their friendship was off.

Not that Nyx would have been against her in any way, or that Fawn would utilize the new amicability of the scout to smuggle in further dangerous animals without having to face any consequences.

It was the fact that they had never seen the head scout change during the past years, only now that she was getting along with Fawn; and that Fawn herself wouldn't even catch on to it. It was the way Fawn was stressing over things regarding the tan fairy, and how she seemed to obsess over the current issue after the gang _had_ told her about their thoughts regarding Nyx's change.

Something didn't fit the way it currently was in the friendship of Fawn and Nyx.

It was like two gears being slightly off and grinding against each other, a tinker would say.

They had their vague suspicions, but didn't say anything.

Seeing Fawn like this and hearing the tone in her voice stirred another idea for the possible reason of what could be going on. Because it shouldn't have bothered the animal fairy the way it looked like in case the scout had laid her eyes upon someone.

"What's so bad about that, Honeydew?" Rosetta finally asked.

"Well, I just want to know!" Fawn huffed.

Tinker Bell opined, "Shouldn't you be happy for her anyway?"

The animal fairy turned to her, a bit angry, mouth open to retort something, but found that she couldn't. Unsure, she waved her hands about. After a few moments, she said, "Yes. I should!" then crossed her arms in front of her chest with a growl.

Again, the others exchanged glances.

Only Silvermist dared to ask, "What is it then, Fawn?" She went down on her knees next to her friend, sitting on her heels and putting her hands in her lap.

"I'm not sure." The brunette was becoming defensive about it. "At first I found the idea funny that Nyx could be interested in someone _that way_, but the more I thought about it the stranger I felt."

No one spoke a word.

So Fawn went on, "I was observing her for some time and noticed the things you told me. I feel stupid for not having seen them in the first place myself, but at the same time, watching her like this somehow gave me a special feeling towards her. I usually only do this with animals, after all." She shrugged weakly, not knowing if this explained anything.

Tinker Bell had told the others about her conversation with the brunette after the beginning of the latter's observation. It was weird enough, the fairy obviously not realizing how creepy it was. But then again, Fawn did rather often things that seemed weird to the rest of the group. They loved her anyway. Sometimes, though, she needed a little poke in the right direction.

"She caught me at the end and made me say what I was doing. I threw it in her face and just flew off." The animal fairy threw her hands in the air, then crossed her forearms over her bent knees and put her head on them. "It was so embarrassing!"

Oh, so she hadn't even talked about the actual matter with the person concerned. That seemed … complicated.

Silvermist laid one hand on the animal fairy's upper arm, wanting to help her, starting, "Fawn, you should definitely talk to her about it. Or at least think on the reason for your feelings. I think you might lo-"

Vidia, silently watching and listening until now and having her own thoughts on the matter, spoke over her, "Yeah, you definitely like her."

Turning around, the water fairy looked at the fast flyer, a tad confused. The latter held her gaze, steady, and only faintly shook her head.

Fawn was apparently completely clueless of anything that could be going on.

The animal fairy was supposed to find it out herself.

* * *

Fawn still hadn't straightened her feelings. But she was good at ignoring things that she didn't understand. Or rather at simply living with them.

Since the day Nyx had found her on the plane, they hadn't seen each other. On Fawn's behalf, it was because she had had a lot of work to do thanks to it being spring. Training with the birds, cleaning the rabbits' houses, feeding the young weasels …

She didn't know how it was for Nyx, though. Whether the scout didn't have the time to come by and see her, or if she had some free time, but not enough to go looking for the animal fairy. Or whether the black-haired fairy even wanted to see her in the first place after finding her almost scrutinizing her.

The brunette sighed, leaning an arm against the bark of a tree in front of her and resting her head against it. She was just outside the clearing of the animal meadow.

Had she messed it up?

While Fawn enjoyed being around animals, her mood was subdued since the incident. Not even the chirping of the birds all around her could cheer her up.

_First you're depressed after an animal that you came to love has to leave, and now you're getting down because of a fairy. What is wrong with you, Fawn?_

She cursed herself mentally.

"Oh, hey Fawn, what's up?"

The addressed lifted her head and saw her animal-talent colleague, Buck. He was casually standing two steps to her side, one hand placed on his hip. A lop-sided smile graced his lips.

"Hey, not much. Just taking a short break", she tried with a smile of her own.

"You seemed rather down, are you sure you're not doing anything too heavy?" His eyebrow furrowed in what probably was worry.

"Yeah, sure, I just ran with the rabbits." That meant, they ran and she flew. Her hand gestured vaguely behind her where she knew the two rabbits would still be grazing somewhere.

He was kind of right, though; she _felt_ heavy. Not too much and far from the amount it had been after Gruff's going back into hibernation, but still. There was a slight pressure on her heart, and she couldn't pinpoint what it was. It existed since shortly after discovering Nyx's intention with … _whoever it was_. Again, anger sizzled inside her like a tiny worm, and she pressed her teeth and lips together while staring lividly down at the ground.

The head scout had just begun being nice towards her; kind, even. She had been the one who had been able to build her up after Gruff was gone. Even though she didn't participate in it when they were together, she understood her physical ways – as a scout who was physically hard-working herself. They had been spending a lot of time – until Fawn had decided to study her current ways – getting to know each other after previously getting in each other's way rather often.

This time between them couldn't be over already; could it?

Because surely, if there was a special someone to Nyx, she would want to hang out with them instead. And seeing how full Nyx's schedule was ...

"Fawn, are you all right?" she heard Buck's inquiring voice.

Her head snapped up and she found his eyes again, all trace of a smile gone. "Yes. Yes, why wouldn't I?"

"You just drifted off and seemed so sad", he replied.

"Oh, that. It's nothing." She put her playfully overconfident smile on, turning so she could lean sideways against the tree with her arm braced against the bark, and waved her other hand dismissively.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" he tried once more, not being fooled.

"Yup, completely!" she boasted.

Watching her with a hesitant gaze, the animal sparrow man sighed and shook his head. "Well, if you change your mind about that, you know who to look for. Okay?"

"Okay", she answered immediately. It wasn't that she didn't like Buck or that she was wary of him; rather the opposite. They got along well whenever they talked to each other or worked together. He could almost be considered as her friend. Or was he already counting as such?

She didn't know. Where was the line between acquaintances and friends? Where was the line between getting along and liking someone enough to want to be friends? Where was the line between liking someone and … _liking_ them?

Fawn cringed at the thought. Why was she getting into _that_ now?

She was being a little dramatic. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on Buck's continued presence.

"Okay", she firmly said once more, looking him in the eye during it. This time, though it wasn't wide, her smile was real.

It was reciprocated by the sparrow man. Nodding, he said, "Good", then left her alone.

With her eyes, she followed his path in the air for a moment before returning her thoughts on her internal debate.

Was this even a debate? Gosh, she needed to do something about the state that she was in. She-

She needed to talk with Nyx. She needed to see her.

The thought was fierce in her. It was the only solution to the turmoil inside her, as she realized.

She didn't know what exactly she would want to talk about with her. Maybe ask who it was, since when it was, how she was supposed to act now-

_What?!_

Woah, woah, woah. Why would this influence anything of the way Fawn behaved around the scout?

She took another deep breath to calm herself.

How could she voice her thoughts when she couldn't even make out what they were exactly? How could she tell Nyx of her feelings? Would Nyx even want to hear her out? Would she _care_ about it after the stunt that the animal fairy had pulled?

She wanted Nyx to care. And these days, Nyx seemed to care about her. She didn't want to lose this ...

Closing her eyes, Fawn came back to her basic decision. She needed to talk to the other fairy. Maybe starting with the basic fact of her discovery itself.

Restless, she turned around to the two rabbits she had trained with, saying, "Hop off, you guys. It's home time for you!" before leaving the meadow herself.

* * *

The brunette was on her way to the scouts' headquarters. Determined to talk about the matter, she didn't let her slightly nervous feelings stop her from the task she had placed on herself.

It was mid-afternoon, with the sun pleasantly shining down on Pixie Hollow and warming the animal fairy where its rays met her skin. Birds were happily chirping in most trees that she passed, like they wanted to greet her. The air was enriched with the smell of all kinds of flowers, plants, and trees, creating a sweet composition.

Nothing of this registered in the mind of the fairy as she was heading towards the reds and browns and yellows of Autumn Forest. She was passing by the coloured leaves of ashes, maples and beeches, her mind lost in thought of the scout fairy she had set her sights on.

Why did this seem so dramatic to her? Why did she feel like this was such a big deal? She wasn't one to exaggerate things, and it wasn't like the world was going down or anything of the alike. It wasn't like her to make a drama out of anything. So why was she doing this now?

The height of her flight was on the level of bushes and she continued ahead, reaching a rather dense part of the forest. She was some meters in, not seeing the two huge Xs in the earth ahead of her and some piled up stones here and there. A twig in her way made her fly lower to avoid it, and she broke through the bush line into the small clearing where the marks sat.

Still concentrating on her issue, she also didn't notice the movement in the greenery around her. A quick swish here. A short swoosh there.

Only when she was out in the open and a quiet collective gasp and brief outcries resounded around her did she suddenly snap out of her bubble of thoughts and jerked her head around.

"_Stop!_" a shout rang loudly through the thicket.

Startled as she didn't know if she was being addressed, Fawn turned towards the sound, decreasing her speed to almost a stop.

Then she heard rustling to her side and annoyed as well as hectic mumbles before something shot out of the same bush and unfolded itself in the air as it quickly closed in on the surprised animal fairy. It was a net. Frozen in her position, the brunette could only stare at the oncoming object.

When it reached the peak of the parabolic trajectory, Fawn lifted her arms to shield her head, and turned her torso to face away from it, squeezing her eyes shut in apprehension of what would happen.

That way, she couldn't see the single figure emerging from the bush where the shout had come from, speeding towards her. She heard the sound of quickly and strongly flapping wings where her front had just been a few moments ago, then that of the ropes of a net crashing against something, lightly creaking against their strain. A grunt.

An arm looped around the side where her face was turned to at the same time as a body collided mildly with hers. The momentum of the net hitting them – whoever that other someone was – sent them the last three body lengths down to the ground. Fawn let out a cry, but was surprised that the fall was relatively easy as the other fairy had thrown themselves against the weight of the net before it caught in their wings, and held on to the animal fairy. The latter landed sitting on her behind, legs sideways away from her under the other one.

The net was only slightly brushing her wings when it simply followed gravity now that it wasn't flying anymore and hung down.

Fawn, still tense in the position she had taken up as the net had approached her, felt the other fairy still firmly clutching her with one arm, their breath blowing rapidly against her hair.

Finally curious to see what was happening, the animal fairy lowered her arms from her head, signalling the other one to let go of her, and turned to face them.

As she did so, she saw that the net left some space around her like a tent would. This was due to the spear that the scout fairy – as it turned out to be – held up and along with it the object since the weapon had blocked its trajectory. The net had caught completely on the back of her saviour and her spear, leaving the animal fairy unharmed.

Leaning back on her arms, Fawn admired the quick action, still looking around at the net. She didn't yet take in the fairy who had taken it for her because of her focus still being consumed by the offensive object previously attacking her. When her eyes had roamed over the fairy, the sight hadn't exactly rung a bell except for the obvious uniform of the elite team; something about her face looking distantly odd in the passing by.

The scout fairy began removing the net from them, grabbing the knotted ropes with her now free hand and dragging them to the side where her spear was. The rod she threw to the side along with the net with a heavy push of her arms and a grunt.

There was a slight pause until the scout, knees positioned next to Fawn's hips and body upright so she wouldn't touch her, spoke her name, shortly followed by the placement of her hand on her shoulder.

"Fawn."

The voice tore her gaze from the discarded net on the side to the fairy who had rescued her. She knew it well enough. She knew _her_.

Fawn's eyes travelled up from the sash with the two feathers around her hips that touched her own hips over the form-fitting brown bodysuit with the sign of the scouting-talent on her chest to the tan, round face with the russet eyes, crowned with black hair.

Watching her so closely, Fawn was able to discover Nyx in the features. But there was something that had prevented her from recognizing the head scout at first glance. And that now stopped her heart for a second before sending its beat heavily pounding against her ribcage – just as it had calmed down after the shock of the approaching net, Fawn regretfully noticed in the back of her mind.

For the usually flawless face of the taller fairy was streaked with anthracite face paint:

A strong line ran from one edge of her lower jaw across the bridge of her nose to the other edge of her jaw. Two more thick lines went down from each edge of her hairline to the inner point of the eyebrow on the respective side. Two lines framed the scout's eyes on two sides, each starting at the outsides of her eyebrows, going straight down and then curving inwards where they reached her cheekbones. One really fine line went from the middle of her hairline down and already stopped before it was in the middle of her forehead. The final line started at the bottom of her chin with the breadth of a thumb and narrowed until it reached the bottom lip of the scout, overlapping the slope of it.

It was particularly transfixing as Nyx's lips were slightly parted, strangely accentuating her mouth. But really, the paint wholly radiated off attractiveness to the animal fairy. Her eyes couldn't stop flitting over the details on the head scout's face.

Only at something like the fifth sight did she notice how Nyx was wearing her hair; and also just then realizing that it was adding to the incredibly good look. Her hair was partly bound together at the top like Fawn had seen Lord Milori do. Plaited in several places were like half a dozen neat, small braids. Faintly, the animal fairy could feel the long hair brushing the bare parts of her thighs, sending tickles through her legs and upwards.

Fawn was completely breath-taken and perplexed as she stared at the scout, only distantly realizing that her mouth was gaping open like that of a crocodile, most probably. It was so weird to see Nyx like this. Yet … She found it strangely beautiful, in an exotic way.

If she had known about Amazons, she would have likened Nyx to one; with the scout fairy being the epitome of strength and beauty in a female to her in this very moment.

_Oh gosh_, Fawn's mind slowly came back to her. _She's gorgeous._

Something inside her clicked, but busy as her thoughts were she couldn't make out what it was.

"Fawn!"

A jolt of the physical kind went through the brunette's body, starting at her shoulders.

Slowly slipping back to her surroundings, the animal fairy realized that Nyx had shaken her shoulders, probably not for the first time during her mental absence. Her painted face wore a worried expression, creased eyebrows almost getting lost in the many other lines.

Just as almost getting lost as Fawn did again in the sight …

The worry in it was slightly derogating the picture, though. What was causing it? Fawn wondered. The reason had to be eradicated.

"Fawn!" Another shake.

Her eyes and mind actually focused on those of Nyx this time. "Hmm?" she made.

_Very articulate_, she chastised herself. But it was the only thing that she had been able to get out.

"Are you all right?" the scout asked her with the worry evident in her voice, too. Her body was further inclined towards the shorter fairy, every muscle now seeming tense. The erect posture wouldn't leave her, though.

Fawn stammered a "Yes", feeling her heart pounding strongly in her chest. She thought it to be the nerves from the whole situation.

Nyx grabbed her shoulders with a stronger grip, forcing first her one shoulder to the front, then the other one, both times looking behind her back to inspect her wings. After that, one hand went behind the animal fairy, lightly touching her spine just above the skirt of her dress, and following it up to the back of her neck. At the same time, the scout's other hand carefully but firmly probed the area of her stomach. When she was done with this, Nyx lifted Fawn's chin with a hand, turning it from left to right.

Finally managing a reaction – aside from the chill that went along her spine and spread in her belly –, the animal fairy jerked her head away, bringing some distance between them by leaning further down. "Hey!" she said. "Stop that! What's that supposed to do?"

The scout was studying her with furrowed eyebrows. "I was quickly checking you for any possible injuries since you seemed to be out of it for a good minute when you stared at me but didn't reply to me. Is your head really all right?"

"Well, it's a little spinning, but that-"

"In that case, I have to bring you to the infirmary", Nyx said with determination, immediately swinging one of her legs over Fawn's legs so she was kneeling next to the animal fairy.

Fawn was both relieved that she wasn't almost sitting on her hips anymore and at the same time a little bit disappointed at the loss of proximity.

The scout took the wrist of the arm facing her and laid the corresponding arm around the back of her own neck. An arm snaked around Fawn's middle. The black-haired fairy already got the two of them slowly up while the animal fairy was still trying to understand what was going on all of a sudden.

When they stood, Fawn finally turned a bit around – not able to leave Nyx's grasp – and placed her free hand on the head scout's chest, softly pushing against it. "Nyx!" She waited until the taller fairy looked into her eyes. "I'm all right. I'm just … a little confused, that's all. Okay, maybe a little bit more than just a little, but it's not from an injury."

The face paint was still strange to see, and she kept peering at it. Every time again did it strike her as pretty, so she quickly averted her gaze in fear of blushing in front of the scout.

The taller fairy held her gaze a little bit longer this time, inquiring. After a moment, she hesitantly said, "If you say so", and let go of the animal fairy.

The latter instantly missed the strength of the other body against hers. Looking for something else to look at, she let her eyes roam over the area around them.

She was genuinely surprised to see a whole lot of other scout fairies and sparrow men standing on the ground and on twigs of the bushes and hovering around them. They were quiet and didn't approach them, so she hadn't noticed them earlier. Seeing the number of them staring down on them made her uncomfortable with embarrassment, so she suddenly preferred to focus back on their leader in front of her. Had they witnessed the whole occurrence ...?

It hadn't escaped her that they, too, wore face paint, though not as much as Nyx. Some had slashes across their face, some had lines across their eyes or noses, some wore a stray line here or there. The colours were a palette of blacks, greys, greyish blues, browns and greens.

"What", Fawn asked, struggling to focus on the taller fairy's eyes – her eyes kept jumping to the spots where the paint was –, "is going on here?" She spread her arms to include the whole scene, then vaguely gestured towards Nyx's face.

The addressed instantly answered. "We are practising a bigger operation. We're going through different tasks of it one at a time in the current stage. The one you happened to run into was capture under the set requirement of precision at a long distance. Thanks to you, I could even include a rescue scene." Her lips twitched towards a smile. "I guess it suits our bad luck of crossing paths at the wrong time."

Oh great. Of course she had to stumble into the practice for a _big_ operation where seemingly _every_ scout fairy and sparrow man was present. But that still left one thing open to her. "And what's that about with the ...", she gestured again, "face paint?"

Surprised like she herself had forgotten, Nyx replied, "Oh, that. We decided to include that part. Some missions would require this to either camouflage us or to scare. And it doesn't hurt to get used to wearing it and especially to seeing it on everyone's face." At this, she grinned – an expression very rarely worn by the head scout. It looked even stranger because it contorted the lines on her face as the skin followed the muscles underneath it.

_If so, you are doing a terrible job at the camouflaging. I can't keep my eyes off of you_, the animal fairy thought quietly to herself. _And it doesn't exactly scare me; on the contrary, it oddly draws me towards you, dear Nyx._

"You might want to rethink your design in that case", Fawn suggested somewhat distantly while her eyes took in every line on the tan face once more. She wanted to bury her hands in the jet black hair and close them, anticipating the catch of a braided tress between her fingers-

She swallowed, feeling the pull she had just thought about inside her again.

Deciding that she had no business here anymore and that it was better to leave before she did anything weird or stupid – not that interrupting a practice session for the whole scouting-talent wasn't embarrassing enough –, Fawn spoke, "I'm taking my leave then. Sorry that I disturbed your training."

She took one last glance sequentially at Nyx's attentive eyes, her little nose with the anthracite line across it, and at her naturally pouty lips, now accentuated by the perky paint on her bottom lip, directly leading the gaze to her mouth. The brunette lowered her eyes to the ground, then turned around and flew off with a strange feeling residing in her.

"I'm sure you didn't know", Nyx said more to herself behind her, placing one hand on her waist and cocking her head. Fawn couldn't see the faint smirk forming on her lips.

On her way away from the scene – really, she had no destination in mind at that moment, she just wanted, needed to get away – and even for the whole remaining day, Fawn couldn't forget the sight she had gotten; beautiful in a strong way.

Nyx had had something of a goddess to her in the twilight of the forest.

And Fawn had made a fool out of herself in front of every scout fairy and sparrow man by ogling her and losing her senses during it; not hearing her words nor feeling her shakes.

_Great._

The animal fairy wondered for a moment what the scouts thought of her. First she had been the troublemaker, then she had literally given her life for Pixie Hollow, and now she was throwing questionable glances at their chief.

Just great.

* * *

**A/N: So Nyx got her hair partly up because I thought it might be looking good on her. And because seriously, how does her hair stay in place like it does in her usual hair style? It doesn't look like she's using gel. As soon as she moves, it should be supposed to be all over the place. Can't have that happen in a serious operation, now can we? At least that's my excuse for giving her this hair style here.**

**As for Nyx's face-paint design, I wanted something concrete before writing this scene. I was just trying things out using Paint until I had something that I thought could still be seen as good-looking. Now tastes and opinions are different, but here's the design I came up with and hope I could get across in the description (if not, it doesn't really matter, I guess):**

**(Take out the one space:) ****ibb. co/pLrDJ53**


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